Petals and Carnivores
by Ginjaa Ninjaa
Summary: Through Naruto not paying attention, lives were forever changed. Instead of the toads, he finds another summoning clan and finds a place to call home that can best assist him in becoming the Hokage. Meanwhile, Jiraiya happens to find the most unlikely person to be his next protege.
1. Chapter 1

All it took was Naruto loosing concentration for him to change the his future course of his life as he knew it. When Sakura needed someone to reassure her that she was doing the right thing, that she was worthy of being a ninja, Naruto was not the one to verbalize it.

No one was. No one was able to reassure Sakura Haruno that she could fight off one Ino Yamanaka who was currently inside of her mind, fighting to assert her dominance and win the battle so that she could win the chunin exam fight. It meant that Ino was able to win and voice her victory in the mental battle. "Proctor, I forfeit." The blonde haired girl called out.

Hayate, who watched on, raised his hand and then spoke those fateful words. "Winner. Ino Yamanaka" Hayate called out to which Ino immediately called off her jutsu and her soul returned to her own body.

"Yes! I won!" Ino called out with sheer joy in her voice. It was at this point that Naruto turned his attention back to the fight and realized what had happened. _Damn that sucks! Sakura-chan is unlucky Dattebayo! _In the back of his mind, Naruto was aware that at least it was better here that his crush lost here in a controlled environment to someone like Ino, rather than winning and then having to go on and face that creepy guy Gaara.

A shiver went down his spine just thinking about how much damage that kid was capable of creating.

"Yay! I won!" Ino shouted out as she ran up the stairs to the smiles of her sensei and her teammates.

"Great work Ino" Choji was the first one to offer support to his teammate, with one hand holding out the high five, the other holding out the open chip packet that he was currently eating. Returning the high five, Ino also, in the heat of victory, got a couple of the chips and ate them, not caring one bit about the calories.

"Yeah, congratulations Ino, that makes two of you so far who have won!" Asuma said out loud and didn't care about the glance that Kakashi gave him. Let him bask in his moment of being a great sensei dammit!

Shikamaru for his part wasn't as forthcoming with enthusiasm for her victory. Not that he was that enthusiastic at the best of times. "Troublesome but good job." Shikamaru mentioned to which he drew the ire of his blonde haired, sassy teammate.

With a frowned forehead, Ino punched the Nara lightly in the arm before settling them into a cross over her chest. "Jeez, you could be happy for me." to which Shikamaru did indeed feel bad.

"I am happy for you, I am just concerned for your next fight. You never know who you could get, you could get someone like Gaara." Shikamaru said with concern. That comment didn't sit well with Ino, as her frown deepened. She knew that Shikamaru said it with the best of intentions, but he didn't realise how demotivating it was to hear that after she had just had a significant achievement as a kunoichi. To her it felt like Shikamaru didn't consider her on the same level as himself, where he was trying to protect her from another genin.

She could protect herself dammit! She was on the same level as all of the other genin and deserved her place!

Admittedly, she hadn't trained as hard as what she could, but the competitive and determined side of her, wouldn't let herself be completely outclassed and embarrassed in front of thousands of people. Most importantly, she didn't want to embarrass herself in front of her family and friends.

Living in the moment, Ino was unaware of what was happening to her competitor and former best friend. Sakura for her part had her head hung in shame. She felt like she failed her family, her friends and most importantly her team.

_Is this the difference between a shinobi from a clan and one who is not? I'm so pathetic, I didn't do anything. I just spent the entire time shouting about our former friendship and ran head on with a kunai! _

Naruto was the first to walk up to where Sakura was and offer his condolences. "I'm sorry you lost Sakura-chan. There's always next time"

Sakura was looking down at the ground when she heard the words of her blonde haired teammate. She looked up and immediately looked for the eyes of her other teammate. She saw Sasuke's face and saw his angry and annoyed look. There was a scowl on his face. _He's no doubt thinking of how weak I am and how terrible he is saddled with teammates who are a joke._

Raging internally, Sakura, took her anger out the only way she knew how. "Shut up Naruto-baka! I will never go on a date with you no matter how many times you ask me! you're so stupid and annoying" and immedaitely launched 5 punches all at the head of Naruto.

The Uzumaki genin took the first punch, thinking that would just be it. That was normally how far she went but then the next four punches came in and it was only when Kakashi got involved that Naruto got respite.

"Jeez Sakura-chan, no need to bitch at me for losing your fight." Naruto instinctively replied back. It was the first time that he had ever responded with something less than positive to his teammate. He felt that he had some justification though. He never asked for a date. He didn't need to be called stupid. Naruto simply tried to cheer her up.

"That's enough, both of you." Kakashi said in an attempt to stop the bickering between the two. He didn't want to cause a scene. The silver haired Jonin was already annoyed at himself for only realizing during the fight just how behind Sakura was compared to the other genin.

Naruto looked in shock at his sensei. He felt that he didn't do anything wrong and to have the man who was supposed to treat them fairly, didn't seem to be doing a very good job at it. A very Sasuke esque look appeared on Naruto's face. Kakashi noticed this but vowed to apologize to Naruto in private.

With all of the fights over, it was now time for the drawing of the chunin exam matches.

_Naruto Uzumaki vs Neji Hyuga_

_Shikamaru Nara vs Temari Sabaku_

_Sasuke Uchiha vs Dosu Kinuta_

_Ino Yamanaka vs Gaara Sabaku_

_Kankuro Sabaku vs Shino Aburame_

Eyes were left wide open! All of Team Ten looked in horror as they realized just what Ino was in for. She was going up against that person who had destroyed Lee. The odds were not stacked in her favour.

"Forfeit Ino." Shikamaru said with a firm voice, for the first time today, with the upmost serious expression and tone to his voice.

Whilst she could definitely appreciate the sentiment that her friend was trying to convey, she hated the sense that they saw her as a baby that had no chance in the fight. Whilst she was scared shitless of what her opponent was able to do with his sand, it was a matter of pride for her. She was not going to back down without giving it a good crack.

"No." Ino replied, in an equally firm tone of voice which shocked all of Team Ten. "Not until I have given it my all. I am going to prove that I am a great kunoichi who doesn't give up at the first challenge thrown her way. I will become a chunin!"

"Of all the times to be troublesome Ino, now is not the time!" For the first time today, Shikamaru got agitated through the disguise of worry. Something that Ino could very well see through, thanks to her high emotional intelligence.

"Look Shikamaru-kun. I appreciate that you care and I love you like a brother, I need to do this! I need to prove that I am worthy of being a clan heir! For the longest time, I haven't taken my training as serious as what I should have! I need to be test myself and prove that I put my best display on to become a chunin! I have gotten this far and I am not going to give up now, now after all of the hard work that I have put in!" Ino replied back to her friend and teammate, with passion flowing through her veins.

Naruto couldn't help but overhear the conversation from the other blonde and look impressed. He never expected the girl to have that much conviction. The Uzumaki was surprised enough when he saw her cut her hair for the sake of winning the match. Initial assumption was that she wouldn't be willing to do that in that it would affect her ultimate goal of becoming Sasuke-teme's wife.

He respected her passion and determination.

"Plus, once I have given it my all and it ends up that I can't defeat Gaara, I'll just forfeit then. I know my limits Shika, I'm not stupid!"

"Shikamaru is right to worry about your safety Ino. He is your teammate." Asuma stated, drawing the eyes of Team Ten onto the adult. With fire burning in her eyes, Ino was about to shout back at her sensei. The person of all who she thought would support her during this. That was until he spoke once more. "But Ino has a right to keep going and try her best to become chunin. The fights will be in front of a large amount of ninjas, in a controlled environment where Ino can safely test her skills and if the time comes when she needs to resign from the fight, she will be able to do so." A look of gratitude was shared was thrown in the direction of her sensei.

The underlying pressure of the scope in which she would be competing in was reinforced on the Yamanaka Heiress though and she gulped down a bit of fear. That soon turned into determination as she was a headstrong girl who was not going to back down without a fight. She hadn't backed down in the quest for Sasuke's love and affection and she wasn't going to back down from this.

xxx

Naruto was furious. "Why did I even bother trying!?" He shouted out loud despite no one being around.

Of course he knew that Sasuke-teme had a dangerous opponent. Yes he knew that Sasuke had a massive target on his neck that attempted to control his mind.

_But dammit! Don't I matter too!?_ Naruto desperately thought as he dealt with the fact that his supposed sensei was solely training Sasuke for the chunin exams whilst he was left with the challenge of getting better to face Neji without the help of a sensei. _Not that the stupid closet perv is anything close to a sensei anyway, I mean who falls for the Harem jutsu anyway!? _Naruto didn't want to be trained by the man and Ebisu didn't put up any fight when he watched Naruto walk away.

It was impulsive and did Naruto think that he might be able to learn something from the guy? Yes. Did he think that he could probably learn that by himself? Also yes. Was it a cocky opinion from a genin who thought he was amazing and was probably had a higher opinion of his skills than what he actually had? Definitely.

Had Naruto stuck around, he would have found the real reason why Kakashi decided to offload his training. Naruto was never meant to spend the entire time training with Ebisu-sensei. There was supposed to be someone else who was going to assist Naruto with his training.

Instead Naruto ran off in anger away from the hot springs and went to the only place he could think of when he was desperate to learn something at all costs. The library.

It was definitely a time for desperation when Naruto Uzumaki of all people in the world was in a library but here he was. His determination to become Hokage outweighed his desire to not be in a place full of books.

_Plus, last time I read something I learnt the shadow clone jutsu, so how bad can it be? _Naruto told himself in a bid to gee up the idea of studying.

Much to his surprise, Naruto found a book that actually didn't seem all that bad. He found something called the summoning jutsu. From the sounds of it, you got your own army of animals to help you take down the bad guys. That sounded heaps cool to the blonde haired genin! It got even better when he kept reading about how many strong shinobis had contracts! _Well if all the strong people have them, then I should have one!_

Naruto, ever the impulsive genin, didn't bother to read the caution which was listed below the jutsu. Once he found out how the jutsu worked, what was required, Naruto got to work.

In the moment, Naruto bit his thumb, went through the hand seals and slammed his hand into the table. Much to the ire of the librarian who shouted at the boy to keep quiet. Whatever Naruto expected to happen, disappearing in a plume of smoke was not one of them.

xxx

Inoichi was a proud man. He was a smart one and he felt confident in his ability to teach his daughter how to become a great shinobi and a great clan leader when the time comes. Even he, an elite Jonin and head of key departments in the village hierarchy.

And yet, given the situation that his daughter was in, he knew that he was not the best person to teach his daughter to become a shinobi good enough to hold her own against Gaara. Inoichi had heard enough about the boy to know that as much as he believed in his daughter, the current state of a shinobi she was, she was going to get absolutely mauled.

There was a very real and high possibility that his daughter was going to die in a month! It scared the absolute shit out of Inoichi. So much so that he about to talk to her about the upcoming tournament. "Ino-chan, can we please have a chat?"

Gulping because she had a rough idea on what she was going to be having with her dad. "Yes Daddy, coming down now." The girl responded as she braced herself for this discussion. There was a feeling in her gut that this conversation was going to be one that would shape her shinobi career. If she backed down here, it would set a precedence for this to keep occurring.

With a look of sheer determination etched onto her face, the chunin hopeful headed down the stairs, braced for the verbal battle. "I'm not backing down Dad! I'm going to become a great kunoichi and there's nothing that you can do about it!"

"Ino, you have to think of your safety! I heard what happened! Gaara is not someone where this is just fun and games. This is a serious life and death situation. Gaara will kill you if he gets the chance!" Inoichi replied, intensity filling his voice.

"Well then, it's simple! I won't let him get the chance to kill me!" She said in a tone that ignored just how hard something like that would be to accomplish.

"Aren't you scared about this!? Ino, let's be realistic here. You've only been a genin for 5 months!"

Taking it a slight as her skills as a ninja, the genin decided to challenge her father. "Dad, do you not believe that I can do this. That I am not good enough."

What Ino didn't know, was that Inoichi was capable of being firm and making tough decisions. "Honestly Ino-chan. No." Shock filled Ino as she had never really heard that word before from her father. It just went to show the fresh genin just how much this meant to her father. "You aren't good enough of a shinobi right now that I would feel comfortable with you fighting Gaara.

You focus way too much on impressing boys, you care too much about your diet which severely affects your ability to train and perform. You care more about impressions rather than your performance and I question whether this is a fad and your pride talking rather than you actually taking your shinobi life seriously."

Ino opened her mouth to immediately reply and then closed it a couple of times. _Dad is right. That's going to change though. _"Look dad. You're right. I did spend too much time basing what I should do around how I look and what boys that would attract. I also ran fad diets but that's all in the past now. " Ino confidently replied, looking her father directly in the eyes.

_She's serious about this but for how long? _Just looking at her he could see that something had changed. He was fairly confident that it was just pride at the moment and then her stubborn nature carrying her through but he could tell that this was something that she was going to do. Officially he couldn't make her quit since she was a genin and under the hokage's control.

It would also drive a fracture into the relationship with his daughter if he tried to control her like that. The resentment was not something he wanted to foster. No he wanted to let his daughter grow into a well rounded and developed kunoichi.

_That just leaves the question of how. What is the best way to get Ino ready for the fight of her life._

"Fine." Inoichi sighed. _ The perks of raising a headstrong girl… _"You're going to have to train as if your life dependent on it."

"Puh-lease…" Ino responded, sticking her chest out. "I've got this for sure." The teenage girl commented, attempting to hide how nervous she was. She hoped her father bought it.

He didn't but he wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt because he loved his previous daughter.

Inoichi just hoped that the plan he was thinking of in his head would work out.

xxx

"Alright then. I'll do it." The man replied, which made Inoichi breathe a sigh of relief. A weight had been lifted off of his shoulders. He had just gotten the best sensei that Konoha had on offer.

"Thank you very much for this Jiraiya. Ino will benefit massively under your tutelage." Inoichi commented.

"I can't work miracles but I'll get her up to shape. Going up against that Gaara kid will be no small feat in itself."

"That's fine. As long as Ino-chan becomes the best that she can possibly be, I will have no regrets. Just please try not to corrupt my innocent daughter into being as much of a pervert as you."

Offended, Jiraiya looked at Inoichi with a frown where the Yamanaka clan head gulped, hoping that Jiraiya wasn't going to change his mind. "I'm not some predatory person who wants to groom a girl" was the crisp reply from the Toad Sannin.

"You paid me to train the girl, not change my personality. I won't direct anything at her but I am not going to change who I am." The message was loud and clear for Inoichi.

_I hope that I am doing the right thing. _

Inoichi knew that he was not going to be able to train Ino to be a combat shinobi ready to fight Gaara in one month. Whilst he was an elite Jonin, he was not a specialist trainer and his area of expertise were off the front lines.

He needed someone to train his daughter that was a perfectionist who would leave no stone un-turned. As much as he had faith in Asuma, he didn't have full faith in train Ino as harshly as she needed. Jiraiya had no emotional attachment to the girl and you don't get to the level of the Sannin without being a perfectionist to break down and improve every single little detail.

There was no discernible front line skill for Ino. She was best used in long range fights as a supporting ninja. In a fight with Gaara, she was going to need absolutely everything in her arsenal to survive, let alone fight back. Jiraiya was the perfect choice considering he had trained the Yondaime, he had no bloodlines and built a style on the front lines from the ground up.

He guessed that this decision would break up the Ino-Shika-Cho trio with the change in fighting style that his baby would now have but when her life was on the line, he needed to do what was needed. Even if it meant, putting a large amount of the clan's financial safety net on one month of training. It was not cheap but Inoichi was in a desperate position and he knew that he would regret it more that if he didn't do everything in his power to help his daughter out.

xxx

"So you want to be an actual shinobi? Well that's good." Jiraiya commented as he stared down the girl in front of him. From what Inoichi had told him, he was surprised to see her wearing a pair of nondescript track pants and a long sleeve shirt. He initially expected her to care more about fashion. _Well this is good._

"Yes Jiraiya-sama. I want to be a great kunoichi, just like your teammate Tsunade-sama!" Ever since she heard what her father had done, Ino knew that she had to make the absolute most of it!

The more and more she thought about what she was doing in a month's time, the daunting feeling of whether or not she was biting off far more than what she could chew lingered on in her mind. The Yamanaka had no idea what this training was going to be like.

"Well hate to break it to ya girl, but you're not going to be like Tsunade-hime. You need to develop combat skills in the space of a month. The time it took for her to develop her super strength is not something that you can hope to replicate." Jiraiya said in a matter of fact tone, setting expectations for the month ahead.

Seeing the dejected look on the girl's face, Jiraiya spoke up. He hated seeing someone sad, especially a girl. "Just because you can't become a great shinobi like Tsunade, it doesn't mean that you can't come become a shinobi on the same level as Tsunade, just in a different way." this caused her head to perk up.

"I am a front line fighter, in the vein of a one man army. I build front line fighters. I wouldn't have the first idea on how to teach someone medical ninjutsu so in that vein, I will teach you how to become a great kunoichi but one who is Ino Yamanaka, and not Tsunade version 2.0!" The way that he said it with a grin on his face was infectious and Ino grinned as well.

"Hell yeah! So where do we start!?" the blonde haired girl asked, excited to get this started.

A sadistic grin appeared on the face of Jiraiya as he stared down his newest student. "Well we are going to be doing a light spar, just so that I can get a feel for how you fight." The Toad Sannin commented to which Ino nodded. She wasn't too sure what to expect when he said light spar fully entailed. "On water." Eyes went wide open when she heard this as up until this point, she had only ever walked on top of water. _This is going to be interesting_

The two shinobi both made their way on the water's surface, Jiraiya with far less nerves. "Alright come at me with the intent to kill." Jiraiya said as he inspected the girl's form, seeing what her first action was. It was to see what instinctually, she found comfort in doing as a shinobi.

Ino pulled out a kunai, and ran towards her sensei for the month. _So she doesn't have full control over water walking yet. _Jiraiya noticed, just from watching the ripples underneath her feet. Still, for someone who was a fresh out of the academy genin, it wasn't bad. Her chakra control was great.

Jiraiya dodged the incoming swipe with the kunai and then proceeded to dodge the followup. Jiraiya ducked a jab from Ino, shot down onto the water's surface, launched his foot out and took the blonde's legs out from underneath her. Not content with that, he quickly kicked out once more, flinging the girl on up in the air before following up by jumping and hitting her back down to the water's surface hard with a hard punch to the stomach.

Ino went down with force and slammed into the water, crashing through the surface and going underneath. A few seconds later, she came back up to the surface, face down in the water though. For a split second, Jiraiya wasn't sure if he pushed too hard to start with. _This is nothing compared to what the jinchuuriki will do though, better get her used to it now. _Slowly, Ino pulled her soaked body to a floating position before climbing out of the water, through the use of her muscles and chakra.

There was a look of determination on the face of the blonde haired girl. _Kid's got spunk _Jiraiya grinned at the sight. Originally he thought that he was going to have to train some preteen fan girl but thankfully this was turning out better than expected.

"Awww, was that too much for ya kiddo? Do you need daddy or Asuma to come and bail you out?" Poking the bear, the Sannin smirked when he saw the look of passion on her face.

"There's no way that something as small as that, is going to stop the Sass Queen incarnate from becoming the best!"

"Sass Queen Incarnate? Get real, there's no way someone like you could be that! You have to be able to back up what shit you spew out of your mouth and as far as I can tell, you're all talk! Just bring it!" Jiraiya called out as he got back into his stance.

Pushing a piece of her shortened hair behind her ear, the blonde narrowed her gaze into a thin line. She was not going to back down!

The spar was over and Ino was sitting down on the ground, eating the bento box her father had prepared for her. Originally she thought that it was going to be way too much food. Then she remembered what she was here for. She wasn't here to look great for Sasuke Uchiha. She was here to survive a fight of her life with Gaara.

It turned out that due to the nature of the hard training she was doing with Jiraiya, she was beyond hungry and was at the point of getting hunger pains. Ino wolfed down the food put in front of her. It had a large serving of pork, rice and vegetables, which the blonde appreciated. Whilst there was a lot of calories there, at least it wasn't any dirty food. It was going to give her the upmost energy and not make her feel bad.

When food was done, it was time to get back to training. "Right." Jiraiya said as he got up, motioning for Ino to do the same. "I am going to show you a jutsu that you are going to be extremely thankful for, for the rest of your life. This is one that is going to be for more than just fighting, it's also going to help you with your fashion and how you look. I take payment for this specific jutsu in the form of compliments."

Jiraiya said, ever in his grandiose fashion. The Yamanaka merely rolled her eyes. Despite it having only been 3 hours since she had first met the guy, she was getting the impression that he was a bit odd. "Oh please do tell what this supposed jutsu is, that will make me look better. Here I thought I was training to become a better kunoichi, plus, what would you know about my fashion choices?" Ino hotly contested, challenge dripping from her voice.

"Just watch and be amazed brat." Jiraiya simply replied and Ino watched with fascination as his hair grew exponentially and wrapped itself around a tree nearby, ripping it out of the ground and then flinging it a few meters away. It then retreated back to the length it was normally at.

Eyes were wide open as she started thinking of all the practical applications that it could be used for in the field! In addition to that, it would allow her to grow her hair back out, after having cut it to give her the opportunity to win her fight during the preliminaries.

"You have to teach me that!" Ino excitedly shouted, with stars in her eyes. She deeply missed her long hair and this would give her so much more to work with.

xxx

When he went through the hand seals and completed the jutsu, Naruto was not expecting to be transported to a completely different world. He didn't even realize how lucky he was to have the jutsu work successfully. Unaware, Naruto still had the five elements seal on top of his jinchuuriki seal, destablizing his ability to successfully mold chakra.

Grunting as he pulled himself up off the ground, Naruto surveyed what was around him and was surprised with what he felt. Immediately, Naruto felt the heat and the humidity of wherever he was. There was a massive river in front of him, with large trees on the banks. Mangroves littered the sidelines of the river.

Just then, Naruto noticed that there was the largest fish that he had ever seen on jump out of the river and into the air. "Holy crap that's a big fish!" Naruto said out loud. It was then that he saw something even scarier, a giant animal, he wasn't too sure what it was, came out of the water and wrapped its enormous jaws around the fish and in what Naruto could only describe as a death roll, the beast took the prey down into the water quickly and it was a sight to see.

"Wow!" Naruto called out and suddenly, he got the sneaking suspicion that there was a whole bunch of eyes watching him. The last time he felt like he was this watched was in the forest of death, under the guise of that snake bastard.

It was only now that Naruto realized that where he was and that he was not the highest on the food chain. Gulping, Naruto wondered just where hell was he!? Looking at the river, Naruto counted five sets of eyes, each gazing intently at him. Never before had he felt like a piece of meat. "It's been a long time since we have had a human here." A voice called out from behind Naruto who was hiding in the shrubbery behind him.

The blonde haired boy immediately turned around and saw a reptile that was about 1 meter long. Jumping back, Naruto prepared himself for a fight. He definitely didn't want to become dinner! "You can talk!" Naruto shouted, smart as ever, drawing the ire of those around him.

"You're not very smart are you?" Naruto got asked. The blonde relaxed slightly, feeling that he wasn't going to be under killed straight away.

Ignoring the jibe, something that he was used to his entire life, Naruto spoke up. "My name's Naruto Uzumaki! Future Hokage of Konoha! what's yours?"

Enjoying the optimism despite question the validity of the statement given to him, the crocodile spoke up. "The names Krool. I'm one of the Crocodile clan." Krool replied, not at all intimidated by Naruto, despite the size difference. "You're coming with me by the way."

Seeing the challenge, Naruto responded in the only way he knew how. "Why should I? Huh? For all I know, this could be a trap."

Not fazed at all, Krool turned around and looked the boy dead in the eyes. "If we wanted you to die, we would have killed you the second you used the summoning jutsu and came into our lands. Now, come with me child and don't make me drag you to my father."

Coming to terms with the fact that he had absolutely no idea where he was and the whole reason why the blonde was here, was to get a summoning contract, Naruto decided to follow Krool. Naruto took his jacket off as he felt the sweat pouring off of his body. Even compared to normal people, Naruto knew that he felt the heat more than normal.

After learning about the Kyubi, he thought it must have been related to that. Under the unrelenting sun of wherever he is, Naruto was sweating his balls off. As much as he wanted to take his top off and go for a swim to cool down, Naruto did not trust that water one bit. Those eyes spelt danger.

The Genin looked down at the path they were traveling in and found themselves in a cave. Unlike what he thought he knew about geography, it didn't get cooler as he went in, instead, it got hotter thanks to a couple of hotsprings that he saw along the way. _Geez, this is stuffy in here._

"Dad! I brought the boy! he's a bit dumb though! I can sense that he has potential though, heaps of chakra!" Krool called out into the deep caverns of the cave.

Affronted, Naruto was not shy to reply. "Oi! I'm not dumb!" Naruto hotly replied back, also a bit miffed that the only compliment he got was something he attributed to the Kyubi and not to his own skills.

"**I see. Bring the boy to me hatchling.**" The deep rumbling bass voice echoed throughout the caverns and Naruto almost shat himself when he heard it. _Just what have I got myself into!?_ Naruto questioned to himself. In the end though, he knew that he was not going to back down. Not when his the potential title of Hokage was on the line.

Soon it went to this opening in the cavern where it was pitch black surrounding him. It was then that Naruto saw them. Sweat dripped down the back of his neck. The set of eyes in front of him were massive! They were the size of his body, if not bigger! He did not want to think of the size that the body housing those eyes were!_ I think I am lunch_

"**Tell me young one, why are you here?**" the voice that carried through the entire cavern questioned him. Just from the sound hitting his ears, Naruto could feel the power behind it. If there was ever a time to lie, now was not it!

"Well I'm from Konoha and we have the chunin exams coming up. I got ditched by my sensei and have to try and figure out a way to train and get stronger so that I can win! I tried doing the summoning jutsu and I ended up here." Naruto said and at the end of his statement, he rubbed the back of his head.

"**I see. Konoha. I remember hearing about that village being created just recently.**" When he heard this, Naruto sweat dropped. _Just how old is this guy? Konoha was built ages ago! He must be ancient! "_**Tell me, what are the chunin exams?**"

_How out of touch is this guy? _Naruto thought to himself but he didn't dare voice it. Thankfully for Naruto, he didn't have to. "I told you about them over 20 years ago dad!" Krool spoke up.

"**Be careful boy. You need to learn when to use that jaw of yours.**" Naruto felt the heat in the room go up with that threat, thankfully he wasn't getting the comment directed at himself. Krool, for his part didn't flinch but did know his place and backed down.

"**I sense great desire and passion when you speak child. The question is, are you ferocious enough to achieve your goals? Do you have that Natural instinct to get the job done, whatever means necessary?**" Naruto felt even more heat under the intensity of the gaze whilst getting questioned. The first thought that Naruto had in his mind was Zabuza. That man was ruthless but at least you knew where you stood. Behind the bandages, there was a man who cared about Haku. Naruto knew he wouldn't be like Zabuza in hiding his emotions but Naruto also knew, that he would go to all lengths to protect those close to him.

"I will do anything to protect my friends! I want to be the Hokage and the role of the Hokage is to protect everyone in the village! I can't protect them if I am not willing to defend them with everything I've got." Naruto firmly replied, getting more and more conviction in his voice, the more he spoke.

"**Very well. Krool, test the boy. ****If he lives, he lives and signs the contract. If he doesn't we will get a different type of meat for lunch.**" Sobek mentioned before closing his eyes. Naruto gulped based on the finality of the statement! The saving grade for Naruto was the the genin knew that whatever was thrown at him, he was going handle it. His name was Naruto Uzumaki and he didn't give up no matter what!

* * *

**Author's Notes: First time writing in a while. Had the muse for a new story, please leave a review if you have any ideas that you think might be fun to read about!**


	2. Chapter 2

Naruto found himself sparring on top of the water, three days after having barely managed to survive the Initiation process of the Crocodile clan. It was touch and go for a while but in the end, he managed to survive.

Little did Naruto Naruto know, that the Carnivorous clan hadn't signed him for what he was right now. He didn't fit their current fight style, personality or their ideal skill level. Sobek was patient though He hadn't lived this long and fought off that many challenges to his throne without being patient and wise. What was 60 years, the upper end for a life span of a shinobi, when he had been around for centuries?

People and other summoning clans had forgotten how feared the Crocodile clan were. With the potential that Naruto had, if it was harnessed in the right circumstances, he would be able to bring their clan back to prominence. The bonus with Naruto was that he was a complete blank canvas to mold into their ideal warrior.

Thankfully, it turned out that there was a modicum of surprise when Naruto started commenting about his chakra being weird ever since the fight a few days ago. This combined with feeling the diluted chakra of the Kyubi, Krool brought Naruto over to one of the elders and got his chakra realigned via removing the seal placed by Orochimaru. It was a night and day difference.

By the end of the day, Naruto was walking on the surface of the water, and going through the taijutsu basics.

Having trained all day, Naruto was famished and needed some food. "So Krool, what's there for food?"

Looking with a confused expression on hiss face, Krool responded. "What do you mean? Catch it? There's plenty of fish out there?" The Croc gestured with his head towards the water and even those other animals on the bank.

Naruto looked with a blank expression. He didn't know what to think! There was no ramen here! Plus, as much as he had been taught to hunt for food as a genin hopeful during his time at the academy, this was the first time that he needed do it!

Using what he had been taught at the academy, Naruto stood on top of the surface of the water and waited. As much as he didn't like it, he knew that he wasn't going to get anywhere if he rushed. That was the one thing he learnt about hunting. _Come on! Come on! I'm starving! _Naruto thought to himself as he impatiently waited.

_There! _His keen eyes spotted and threw the kunai at the water, unintentionally channeling chakra into the blade, due to sheer will and desperation for this to work. He didn't want to have to wait for another chance. Watching with great amounts of intent, Naruto grinned when he saw the kunai connect with the salmon and impale it just below the eye.

Before it could scurry away too far, even at slow speed due to the injury, Naruto raced along the water at top speed for the short distance, dived into the water and grabbed a hold of the fish and prayed his chakra control would allow him to hold onto the slippery bugger. Thankfully for the blonde, it was. Using his chakra, Naruto returned to the surface and got out of the water.

It was the first time that he had killed an animal on his own volition. During the academy, they were forced to do it, if they wanted to graduate and while it had been hard, this was different. He could have found some fruit or something else. _But no, I needed meat. _Naruto thought to himself, staring down at the fish, washing it become lifeless and stop moving.

The desire to eat protein outweighed Naruto's mind at this point and he simply settled for preparing the food, along with some fruits that he could see in the trees. _This is going to be an interesting month _Naruto thought to himself.

**x-X-x**

"Well that was quick." Was all Jiraiya said as he watched Ino recreate the basics of his hair ninjutsu. He didn't want to fill her ego as she already had enough of one, though he knew where props were due.

Beyond happy that she now had her hair down to shoulder length, Ino felt more comfortable in her own skin as she was used to having long hair for ages. "Yeah, I made my own hair ninjutsu that I used in the chunin preliminaries. It was nowhere in depth and I have been running chakra through my hair, because I heard that it makes it healthier." The blonde haired girl replied.

"True, well for the next hour, we are going to be practicing you growing you hair, and retracting it. This will also serve as another form of chakra control as well as allowing you to develop your reserves which are quite poor for a clan kunoichi your age." A snide look was thrown at Jiraiya to which he didn't care. He was here to get results and annoying Ino seemed to be a good way to get them.

She didn't comment because she knew he was right. It had only been a couple days of her caring more about her training but even then, she was noticing a difference. With the extra amount of calories and reserves growing day in and day out, the Yamanaka was feeling much more energetic, without feeling the need to have a nap in the afternoon. The best part in all of this, was that she was yet to see any difference in the mirror around her stomach. She hoped it stayed that way.

"We aren't just settling for growing it out to your feet and back again. Each time you do it, I want you to focus on the speed you do it. Keep the control perfect balanced, it doesn't need to be strong, that comes with more chakra. What I want you to focus on, is the speed output of chakra. The ability to be able to control your chakra quickly is invaluable." Jiraiya lectured to the girl who analyzed each word he said and nodded her head. She could definitely see the benefit.

Once she had made the most of her chakra training, she ate a small meal, to replenish her energy before she went to train her body physically. "So what are your thoughts on the other competitors?" Jiraiya questioned, with a plan to guide the conversation to a certain direction.

"Well there's Sasuke-kun of course! He's so cool, he's got his sharingan, a fire ninjutsu, he's so fast and strong!" just seeing the way the girl in front of him fished about the boy made Jiraiya roll his eyes. On the inside though, he was a bit jealous. He never had fangirls as a kid like Orochimaru did.

"I've hears things about that kid, next." Annoyed at the lack of shared enthusiasm for the Uchiha boy, Ino replied.

"Well then there's my teammate Shikamaru. He's a nice guy but the laziest person you'll ever meet! I wouldn't be surprised if he wins the next one or if he doesn't. He's super smart though." It was good to see that when it wasn't just talking about Sasuke, she was able to talk normally.

"Hahaha, Shikaku's boy. I guess the Apple doesn't fall far from the tree." Jiraiya fondly mentioned, having drank many nights away with Shikaku.

Putting down all of his connections to being one of the Sannin, Ino kept talking. "Then there's that Naruto-baka. He's not that good. Pretty bad actually he was lucky as he won by farting. Always during the academy, he was pulling those stupid pranks and disrupting the class. Everyone seemed to hate him. " The blonde haired girl stated with frustration evident.

Wincing, not that the girl saw it, Jiraiya replied. "Well he may not be the best but if he won a fight just with a fart and nothing else, that says a lot about how determined he is to win and how creative he can be." Jiraiya mentioned, hoping to stoke a conversation about his godson. He felt bad that he hadn't seen anywhere near enough of the boy as he should have.

The Yamanaka paused to think about the words of her sensei. "Well I suppose he did pull all of those pranks as a kid. Those were creative. I mean, I don't think it was Naruto being creative though. I think it was more just him not having any other moves. He was the worst at the academy and I have no idea how he manage to graduate and yet he managed to make it to the finals. Just seems lucky." Ino replied off the cuff, not really thinking or noticing how Jiraiya once again winced.

"You never know, if he's got Kakashi Hatake as his sensei, he might become good in the space of a month?" The sannin commented. He meant to check up on Kakashi to see what he was doing for Naruto's training. He only had about a week's worth of stuff to teach the boy. He wondered what Kakashi was teaching him?

"Nah I don't think so." Ino shot that in the foot. Jiraiya paid deep attention. They didn't seem that much different. Plus Sakura seemed like she was the exact same skill wise from the academy. "He's probably focusing on Sasuke, since he's the only one that has improved " Unaware of the position of it's she was putting Kakashi in, the teenager freely mentioned without realizing.

"I see. Well hopefully he gets better over the next month. Can't have Konoha looking bad during the exams."

She thought it was odd that the man cared so much about that loser. His point did stand though, if Naruto was capable of winning by farting alone, how much better would he be if he had more at his disposal? It would be interesting to see if he improves.

**x-X-x**

To say the least, Naruto was improving quite quickly. Gone from struggling to stand on the water, now Naruto was fighting off 7 Crocs on the surface of the water. He had even managed to get a win over one under water.

In addition to his taijutsu getting much better, Naruto found out that he had a elemental affinity. Given where he was, it was no surprise that it was a water elemental affinity. It just came naturally tot the boy as he dangled his feet in the water and placed his hands on the surface of the water, manipulating chakra for hours, just getting a feel for it. Compared to all the other elements, water was the most 'feel' based which lent itself towards the Uzumaki.

Krool was a massive help, never settling for anything less than perfection which rose Naruto's own standards.

So engrossed in what he was doing, Naruto didn't want to wait for food and he also didn't want to have to give up his train of thought die to the progress he was making. With an idea, Naruto created a couple of clones to go and catch yet another salmon.

Not thinking much of it after he went back to focusing on his chakra, as Krool had instructed. Naruto channeling his chakra, cupped the water, brought it out of the lake and tried to keep the water from falling into the larger pool.

It had been a week and Naruto had already managed to successfully brute force is way through the most basic form of water manipulation. That was putting his hand into the water and making the water come up out as a minor pillar. The first time that he had manage to get it, Naruto made the pillar 50 centimeters out of the water.

With the ability to manipulate water whilst it was all one body was achieved at the base level, now Naruto was hoping to be able to separate the water that he wanted to use, from the existing water. From there, all it was, was just refining his ability with the two skills.

It was then that his clones brought back 3 crabs. They then started cooking the crabs, as best as they could.

_I can't wait to eat the fish! _Naruto thought to himself! Despite not having any ramen around, he wasn't minding the heavy amounts of fresh fish and various other forms of seafood that he was eating. That combined with the abundance of fruit was a blessing for Naruto in disguise.

Of course, he loved ramen, but after getting ripped into about how poor his diet was previously, and not having any other options, the blonde started eating lots of food that was available naturally. It meant that now his diet was high in protein and lots of fast acting sugars which were great for energy production and to repair the damage done to his body.

Due to his diet getting much better and being promised more muscles, Naruto was eager to see the transformation that his body was going through. He felt much stronger and he swore, he was seeing a bit more muscle in his arms.

_That must be from holding that damn blade all the freaking time dattebayo! _

"Oi what the hell! Why are you guys fighting!?" Naruto shouted out as he immediately looked up and stared at where his now two, formerly three clones were caught with a dumbfounded look on their face. They didn't expect to be caught.

"How did you know that?" one of the clones fought back, choosing not to answer the question.

_How did I know that? _Naruto thought to himself. _No one told me and I got the memories of my clone who caught a crab instead of a fish as if I lived it myself. It's almost as if my clone's memory was transferred to me after it died! _

All thoughts of studying on his water manipulation as his mind rushed to the possibilities of what this could mean! He could use his clones to scout ahead, he could use them to study the boring stuff so that he didn't have to! _I wonder if I could get them to help me with my training!? _Naruto questioned as he had a moment of genius.

Little did he know that had he properly read the jutsu in the first place when he opened the forbidden scroll, this would have been information he could have learnt five months ago.

Not wanting to waste all of his chakra, Naruto created ten clones, got them to move onto the surface of the water and to practice his chakra control whilst the blonde ate a well deserved meal.

**X-X-x**

After food, Naruto then went back to training, testing his theory, he let his clones explode, transferring the memories and knowledge back to the main. _Ugh! _Naruto grimaced as he rubbed his head, feeling an oncoming headache.

Going back to the water's edge, Naruto cupped a small amount of water in his hands, as per the instructions from Krool and did his best to separate it. _Yatta! _Naruto called out as he managed to hold it for 2 and a half seconds as an independent body of water before it collapsed into water.

With renewed Vigor, Naruto created 25 clones this time around, and decided that he didn't have enough swords so he might as well do that himself. The Uzumaki was still getting used to his new weapon which he thought was sick as hell!

It wasn't as long almost as long as Zabuza's cleaver, as well as being almost as heavy. The center of the weapon was a solid steel rectangle that was 40cm by 1.5m. Whilst the the internal part of the weapon was great, made from high quality metal that Naruto was able to channel chakra through (not that he was there at that point).

The real part was that Naruto thought was utterly cool, was the sharp bits of the sword. Spaced slightly apart from one another there were incredibly sharp teeth from former crocodiles. Rather than the slicing and quick based fighting style that normal swords provided, Naruto knew that this was going to be different. This instead was going to be trying to sink the teeth into the body and then rip out in the most brutal fashion.

"Your kata's are shit but you are getting better." Krool said, looking at the boy in front of him, who was practicing getting used to carrying a sword. It was the first time that he had really done anything with a sword before.

"Thanks… I think?" Naruto hesitantly replied, not sure if he should appreciate the compliment but in the end, he just used it to get better. He wanted to graduate to not shit from being shit in the eyes of his summons clan.

"Just stop being shit and get better. You're one of us and we don't want you to look bad, therefore making us look bad." Krool said, not caring if it annoyed Naruto.

"I'll show you not shit!" Naruto shouted out, having heard comments from that vain about being the dead last, he wanted to prove everyone wrong. That he was somebody. He wasn't just a nobody and that he was going to become the Hokage!

**x-X-x **

After a week of intense training and being in the summoning realm, Naruto requested to go back to his home. He wanted to see how the village was doing and if he was honest with himself, he mostly just missed ramen.

Whilst the training was hard, the other parts that made up Naruto's holistic approach to becoming a better shinobi, thanks, mostly to Krool was even harder. The main part where Naruto was finding it hard, was the eating.

Back before he had arrived here, he was eating ramen upon ramen. It gave him enough nutrients to function but nowhere near the amount required to strive. All it took was one simple question, whether Naruto cared about doing the hard, boring work with just as much focus as the fun, cool stuff like learning jutsus. With the final statement being, that somewhere, there was someone who wasn't willing to cheat on themselves and put in more effort than Naruto.

Out of all the insults and comments that Naruto had received from the Crocodile clan, that was the toughest to swallow. Sure, he didn't like comments on how dumb he was, how he lacked height and even his skills as a ninja. The one area where Naruto absolutely hated comments and they were a low blow as far as he was concerned, was questions on his character.

Absolutely no one in his eyes, could question him on his drive, his determination and his willingness to work harder than anyone else in the room to achieve his goals. Until the Crocodile clan did that, when they made a comment. _"__I fail to see how you, someone who says that you care about becoming the Hokage will become one. Where you care about eating ramen for every meal because it tastes nice, there is someone who will be eating kilos of rice, meat and vegetables because it is the fuel your body needs to perform optimally. Change your diet and you will see far more improvement._"

_And they were right, _Naruto thought to himself as he had noticed his performance and recovery in the training sessions. He was getting stronger, his speed had increased and even the high amounts of fat from the salmon mostly, started to turn the gears of puberty into action.

It meant that when he got to eat ramen, he could actually make the most of it and properly enjoy the food.

"Naruto! We haven't seen you in a while!" Ayame called out with a grin on her face, happy to see her favorite customer.

"Yeah!" Naruto said with as much enthusiasm. "I've been training real hard and I am going to kick ass at the chunin exams!" he said as he rushed to sit down at the table. He quickly ordered his meal, not aware that there was some long haired man sitting next to him.

"How do you know that gaki? Just because you are training, doesn't mean that the other's aren't training. I mean only some snot nosed brat would wear bright orange." The silver haired man said, hoping to get a rise out of the boy.

That he did. "Oi shut the hell up old man, you don't know anything." Naruto angrily replied as he turned around and stared the person down. He was a big guy, standing over six foot, not that it scared Naruto at all. After all, he had faced Orochimaru and that guy was scarier than anything ever.

A smirk was all that Naruto got which infuriated him even more. Just who the hell was this guy? "I think I know a brat when I see one."

_Whatever _Naruto thought to himself, having dealt with people like this his whole life. It was nothing different. Instead of rising to the bait, Naruto just ignored the comment, turned around and faced Ayame, waiting for food.

_Jeez, guess he is not in a playful mood. _Jiraiya thought to himself as he watched his godson interact. _I wonder how his training is going? It's easy to see from how worn out he is, that whoever is training is not cutting any corners. "_Alright then kid, what makes you think that you are going to won, got any cool jutsu up your sleeve?"

Naruto gave the man a glance and tossed up whether he should rise to the bait once more. "Nope, got none." he said without turning his body to face Jiraiya when speaking.

Seeing that he wasn't getting anything from his godson, he knew that he had to change tactics. Obviously the whole bait him into conversation wasn't working out all that well. "You know, I could help you out with that, teaching you some super cool jutsu." Jiraiya casually mentioned before turning his attention to the food in front of him. Out of the corner of his eye, Jiraiya saw Naruto give him his full attention. A smirk appeared on his face.

"I doubt someone as derelict as you could you help me. You look like you spend way too much time in those boozy red light dens." Naruto wasn't an asshole. He was just incredibly tired from all of the traini0ng that Krool put him through and on the rare occasion Sobek was putting him through. He didn't have the energy to filter himself.

_Kid's not wrong. Just being a bit of a shit right now._

"There's nothing wrong at all about spending time around the red light district thank you very much. As a man of fine culture, you wouldn't understand." Jiraiya stuck his head up as he spoke and Naruto relaxed. It was clear to see that the old guy obviously didn't care too much about how others viewed him. Naruto could respect that.

"Alright then old man, what could you help me with."

"Glad you asked kid. I am a man of many manly talents. I can show you how all you need to know about chicks, babes, girls, your furry stomach problem, girls again, chicks oh and more about babes." The way Jiraiya casually talked released the tension. Naruto sweat dropped when the first three were all about women.

He went ramrod straight at the brazen mention of the Kyubi and within seconds was confused as he went back to talking about girls. _Just who the hell is this guy? _"I'm interested in how you think you can help me with my uhhhh stomach ache." Naruto said slowly, as he realized he was in public and wanted to avoid talking directly about the Kyubi.

Jiraiya moved so fast that Naruto couldn't see. He was in his seat one moment and the next, he was standing next to Naruto with his head in a headlock, giving him a noogie. "It was the babes that got you interested wasn't it? I see you are also a man of culture as well."

_He's fast and strong!_ Naruto thought as he struggled to get out of the grip of Jiraiya but he was unable to unless the man let him. "No it wasn't you dirty old man. Get your head out of the gutter!"

"Kid, you should be thankful. I'm training this girl that I think you would get along great with. She's just as fiery as you and I bet you that she is going to turn some heads at the exams." Jiraiya proudly said.

Which was true. Despite his initial thoughts going into the situation about training Inoichi's daughter, he was definitely impressed. Admittedly, he thought that he was going to be training a just a simple fan girl. That went out the window in the first training session. Ino was definitely still a girl who cared about her appearance and boys a lot. She was also a very hard worker and stubborn, much like himself.

It had been a week and she had gotten used to sparring on the surface of the water at the same speed in which she could on land. In addition to that, thanks to her high chakra control and having previously been exposed to hair ninjutsu, Ino had learnt the Hari Jizo. She was even using her chakra to augment her speed. Sure, Ino tired out easily because of years where she neglected her training but it was on the rise. _In a few years, she will be a great kunoichi._

Meanwhile, Naruto had managed to free himself and thought on the words of Jiraiya. He wondered just who it was that this guy was training. The only person he could think of Ino but then there was also that Suna girl. They were both fiery and equally turn heads at the exams for different reasons. If it was Ino and she managed to get really good in a month then he wished the best for her.

The food arrived in front of Naruto and all thoughts of anything other than ramen went completely out the window. He hadn't had it in a week and he couldn't wait to have it again.

_Damn this is so good! _Naruto thought to himself as he ate the delicious ramen. He hadn't had it in what was ages for him so he really got to appreciate it. After having finished his food, Naruto opened up gama-chan to see if he had enough money for some more food. There was a wistful look on his face which went away as he put enough for just one meal.

It broke Jiraiya heart to see this. _I should have been there more for him. I can tell he is a great kid and that Minato and Kushina would be proud of him. _"Hey kid, this one is on me, have as many as you want." Naruto looked up at the man in shock. Soon after this quickly turned into a big grin.

"Thanks old guy! Sorry I never asked what was your name. What is your name?" Naruto questioned as he realized that he may have been a bit overzealous in judging the white haired man.

A big grin was returned to Naruto as Jiraiya saw how he brightened up the day of his godson. "It's Jiraiya kid."

"Okay mister Jiraiya! Thanks! I'll prove you wrong and own the chunin exam finals!" Naruto replied confidently, happy to have met someone new who he might be able to call a friend.

"I hope you do kid. I hope you do." Naruto wasn't sure how to handle that odd comment. Instead he focused on eating as much ramen as he could possibly stomach. Jiraiya watched on at the boy with pride and excitement. He couldn't wait to see how Naruto and his student Ino would do. _They have a lot of similarities. _

When all the food in the world was eaten, Jiraiya was the first person to speak up. "So brat, did you want me to help you out with your training? I could let you sign my summoning contract as long as you tell me how great I am?"

Naruto had to think about it for a second, then he remembered that he wasn't allowed to. "Can't old man Jiraiya. I've already signed one." Naruto replied although he was touched for the offer. He knew how much he had learnt from his summoning family that he was sure that he would have learnt a lot from this guy's.

Adrenaline pumped through the body of Jiraiya as he quickly schooled his features. "That's fine kid. Summoning clans are very tribal. Neither would want you if you signed both. Which one did you sign?" The Sannin asked, squashing the feelings in his heart that he wasn't going to be able to pass on the Toad summoning scroll to Naruto.

"I signed up with the Crocodile clan. They've been really cool, helping me get stronger and teach me sick ninjutsus." Naruto said with excitement, finally having found people to teach him properly. _In a week, I think I have learnt as much as I did in 5 months with Kakashi-sensei. _Naruto didn't want to unpack that thought. He wanted to like his sensei Kakashi.

_The Crocodile clan. I know that Crocodile's are known to eat frogs on rare occasions if they are desperate but I don't know much about them_"Well what about the stomach ache?" Jiraiya reached out for a second time.

Unaware what was going through the mind of Jiraiya, Naruto replied. "Nah, that stuff is all fine after the Crocodile clan fixed up all that stuff after the snake bastard. I can use my chakra now. Plus, I want to be known as Naruto Uzumaki, not as Thanks anyway Mister Jiraiya! I've got to go now." Naruto said as he rushed out of the tent, leaving Jiraiya to mull in his own thoughts.

He could have chased after his godson but was obvious to him that Naruto didn't want his help. At least, not for the chunin exams. The kid had it all under control. _I guess I'll wait and see how you go kid._

**x-X-x **

Engrossed in his writing, having done his early morning researching, Jiraiya didn't notice Ino come up to him. For a second and that was all it took, Ino with great curiosity looked over the shoulder of her sensei to see what he was writing. "Icha Icha. Is that that book that all the adults read!?"

_Ahh shit! Inoichi is going to kill me. _"Yep. Hence meaning, not for kids."

Completely ignoring her sensei, Ino's inquisitive nature pressed on for more information. This was juicy gossip. "What's it about, since it's only for adults, I'm guessing it's all about sex!" Whilst she was a ninja, she was still a teenager and hadn't been exposed to sex all that often. For her, it was raunchy, for Jiraiya, it was not.

"Well duh. Surprised you managed to come top two in your class with those deductive skills girl." Jiraiya deadpanned. "So are we getting started on your chakra training?"

"Nah this is far more interesting. Why do you write it." Ino asked, engrossed in juicy information.

"It pays well. Let's get going on your elemental manipulation."

"Aww is the legendary Jiraiya of the Sannin just a big softie who writes romance novels?" The blonde haired girl questioned with a smirk.

In return, she got a fireball to the face, where she had to dodge quickly.

"Elemental training now girl. Maybe if you're lucky and you learn the beginner stage of using your element, I'll lend you a book that I wrote to read." With Icha Icha on her mind, Ino was giddy. She wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Plus, her curiosity won out.

"Alright, channel chakra into the piece of paper." The Toad Sannin mentioned as he handed a piece of paper to the girl. The genin took the paper and then watched as it crinkled into a ball when chakra channeled into it.

"Daddy always said we had quite a lot of lightning element users in our clan. It's to do with the brain sending commands to and from the rest of the body via electricity. Since we use the mind a lot, it's only natural that we have a lightning element." Ino mulled it over as she looked down at the paper in front of her.

This was something that Jiraiya was well aware of as well and took it into consideration when devising the best way to survive against a top tier shinobi.

"Well then, let's get to it! Ino-chan's got a book to read." Jiraiya didn't say anything. This was going to be funny.

**x-X-x **

**Author's Notes: That wraps up the training and prologue to this story. From here the real story will begin as the previous was just setting the place.**

**If you have any suggestions of things / plots / jutsus that you think would be cool to be fleshed out in a story, then please hit me up.**


	3. Chapter 3

Ino and her sensei were sitting in the middle of the training ground. It was the last day of her training and she was just doing some light stretches and chakra drills, to keep her optimal for the upcoming exams.

"Hey Jiraiya-sensei, since you write all of those raunchy books, could you help me with boy troubles?" _Yes, she doesn't call them dirty. _Jiraiya thought to himself. Out of all of the girls from the graduating class, he knew he made the right choice training Ino. Instead, he could have been training Hiashi's daughter. _That would have been like pulling teeth out._

"Go ahead kid, although not sure how much I'll be able to help you." Jiraiya responded, interested to see where this conversation was going.

"What type of girls do guys my age like?" Ino asked with confidence albeit curious.

_Hmm, this could be a dangerous path to go down. _"Well I can't comment for all guys but from my first hand experience. I always went after the girl who didn't care about what other boy's thought. She did what she wanted, always put herself first and that was sexy. She is strong, not just her abilities as a shinobi but also her strength in will and personality."

Ino's heart swooned. It was cute thinking of this old man talking about a girl who he liked back then. It was obvious to her that he wasn't really interested in multiple girls. He was just after one. "But what about looks? You never really mentioned looks."

Jiraiya looked down at his newest protege. It was clear that she wasn't getting the message that he was trying to give her. "Looks matter but nowhere near how much you think you do. Sure, you have to be physically attracted to him..." before he could continue, Ino cut him off, not intentionally however.

"I've put on weight over the last month and I'm worried Sasuke-kun won't like me." In a rare moment of uncertainty, the blonde haired girl opened up about one of her concerns. She was normally supremely confident in herself but no one was immune from having negative thoughts about themselves every once in a while.

Holding back the rolling of his eyes, Jiraiya knew that this was an issue every girl was taught by society which he thought was wrong. He was all for skinny girls, curvy girls, girls with muscle and girls with either long or short hair. "You realize that around 50% of your breasts is made up out of fat right?"

The single comment made Ino open her eyes wide open. It was evident that she did not know that. A million thoughts were now going through her head about how to get the right ratio of fat so that she had big boobs without a big stomach.

"I can see where your head is going and stop that." Jiraiya said in a rare time of seriousness. He didn't want all of this training that Ino had achieved to go to waste. There was no point of having all of the skills in the world if you had the wrong mindset, one that debilitated your ability to perform on a mission.

"I know it won't be easy but the sooner you stop focusing on what your body will look like and start focusing on what your body can do, you will be better." Jiraiya didn't really know why he was going to talk about his own dating life to a girl just going through puberty that he had met less than a month ago.

"The girl I fell in love with, she didn't care about how she looked. It was hot watching her on missions where she would outclass her enemies and then heal any injury. Princess was great like that. Plus, she eventually got real hot."

Looking at her sensei, she watched his face and saw the same look that she saw her father give when he was either thinking about her mother or looking at her. Then it went to a perverted one and she was grossed out. _Ewww, sex isn't something old people should do. It's only for young people. _Throughout all of this, she could tell that he didn't just like this girl. He loved her.

She wanted to have someone who looked and thought about her like that. _Sasuke-kun doesn't do that. Heck, he doesn't even look at me at all._

_Because he only saw me as that weak girl who couldn't protect herself. The way sensei was talking about that girl, she was a good shinobi. I wonder who she is. _Ino thought to herself as she remembered all the traits that were spoken. _Princess, hot, able to heal people and puts herself first._

Ino's eyes shot wide open and she had a knowing grin on her face, one that Jiraiya didn't like all that much. "You're in love with your teammate Tsunade aren't you." She confidently stated, assured that there was no other person.

_Damn she's quick. _"Was. We haven't spoken in about a decade.

"Awww, that's so cute. You should definitely speak to her." Ino insisted.

Not liking at all where this conversation was going, Jiraiya decided to change it. "No and to answer your question about looks, it doesn't matter if you have put on weight. Since your training and diet have been spot on, it will mostly all be muscle. I bet you haven't noticed your clothes fitting that much different, have you?"

"No, not really but I gained 3 kilos! I'm going to be bulky!" Ino all but shouted back.

"Good. You were probably a bit underweight to begin with, since you cared so much about dieting. I'll let you in on a secret. No matter how much fat you lose, you will never stop looking chubby unless you have a bit of muscle to reveal.

Muscle should be a sign of pride. It isn't like getting a nose reconstruction or implants. You can't pay for it and you can't cheat to get it. It's something that you have to work hard for a long period of time to achieve." It went unsaid that Jiraiya was a little bit bias in this regard. Tsunade was known for being curvy with a fair amount of muscle. Despite the fact that she got her super strength from her chakra, Tsunade was still ridiculously strong for a female without it. Heck she was stronger than most male shinobi as well!

"So you're saying I should build muscle to get boys?"

"No." Jiraiya with a pause to get her attention to focus on him for a second. He wanted his next comment to be the last one. "No, what I am saying is that you should focus on yourself and not at boys at your age. I thought you were Ino Freaking Yamanaka, the Sass Queen? Why are you chasing boys, when if you are as good as you say you are, they will be chasing you?"

Once again, eyes were wide open but this time with glee that morphed into a smirk. "You're right sensei. Boy's should get in line to worship the ground that I walk on. I shouldn't have to keep belittling myself for chasing after boys that don't give me the time of day! They have to want me!"She thought of all the times her self esteem went down when Sasuke-kun completely ignored all of her efforts to make him feel better.

**x-X-x **

Much like Ino, Naruto had finished of all of his training. With a final goodbye Krool, the rest of the other crocodiles and even Sobek-sama, Naruto reversed summoned himself back to Konoha.

"I haven't seen anyone of my friends for ages." Naruto murmured out loud as he looked on at the village from the Hokage Monument. The Uzumaki wouldn't change it though. The time away was a great time to reflect whilst also allowing him to solely focus on his training. He had gotten so much stronger, far stronger than he thought he would have if he had been training with Kakashi.

As much as he hated the idea of being left behind for his teammate, Naruto was thankful for the opportunity which turned out to be a blessing in disguise. In the past, he had never had a competent teacher. Iruka, as much as he loved the man and would do anything for him, had to manage around 30 other students, in addition to Naruto.

Kakashi on the other hand didn't. Having a competent sensei in the form of Krool for the past month, allowed Naruto to really see what was possible if given the right sensei. He was well on his way to becoming a strong shinobi.

It really highlighted the difference in teaching or rather the lack thereof from Kakashi's behalf. It made Naruto annoyed. _He could have done have half the training over the five months that I learnt in the month that just went by._

He still thought that he was a good leader on missions, just maybe not the best when it came to teaching. Plus the fact that Naruto was able to hold grudges, it just meant that he currently had a sour taste in his mouth to Kakashi-sensei at the moment.

In addition to Kakashi being one that he didn't think too highly of at the moment, his beloved Sakura-chan was also on that list. Sure, he still loved her but he was beginning to question that. He never once tried to ask her to go out on a date with him after she lost her fight against Ino. Yet, she still just hit him for no reason.

_She does that a lot. _

_She doesn't train at all._

_She only cares about Sasuke_

Putting those thoughts in the back of his mind as they challenged a lot of the thoughts that he had had over the past few years regarding the pink haired girl and he didn't want to thinking about that just before he entered the fights that would determine whether or not he would become chunin.

Focusing his attention away from the girl that he used to think could do no wrong, Naruto headed away towards the center of the city. Naruto knew that he needed more equipment and he was mandated by the Crocodile to wear the colors of the clan.

It was an intense conversation that took place when Naruto found out about the expectation, he rebelled. A single comment won Naruto over by Krool. _Don't you want to become Hokage? The first impression someone gets of you is your looks. __Show people that you mean business. That you are here to win and assert yourself at the top of the food chain._

You didn't get to the top without an ego and Naruto was not immune to that school of thought. He knew he had one. The chip on his shoulder from years of being the at the bottom of the food chain for as long as he could remember, meant that Naruto very much wanted to be on top. He was hungry for it.

Headed to shops, Naruto found one nearby and entered it.

He had to go to a couple of stores to get what he wanted but in the end he found his new shinobi outfit, it was cool as far as he was concerned.

A simple silk emerald green kimono that was left untied that was a size too big for him. With his growth in mind and not much funds inside gama-chan, Naruto was conscious of getting bigger. The loose, flowy sleeves went down to his mid forearm whereas the tail of it went down to his upper thigh.

Underneath the loose kimono, he wore a plain white shirt that was fairly tight. The look was finished off with a pair of standard blue shinobi pants that were bandaged up at the bottom into sandals.

The best part of all for the look that the blonde was concerned about, was that it showed off his tattoo!

The final part of the summoning clan contract ritual was to get a tattoo, as a sign of pride for where he came from and what he was a part of. When he was asked what he wanted to get and shown a bunch of designs, it didn't take long for Naruto to choose one.

Naruto decided to get a tattoo from his mid forearm up. Sky blue waves crashed with white spray coming up the inside of his arm. Inside of the wave, there was a traditional koi fish which wrapped around his forearm and ended at the outside of his elbow. Where the koi fish ended, a red and yellow lotus in the early stages of blossoming. Finishing off the tattoo, there was a green saltwater crocodile started at his bicep and wrapped around his shoulder and the mouth of the crocodile stopped at his pectoral. Around the edges of that main items in the tattoo, there were black edges, to really emphasize the pieces of art.

It took sixteen hours and Naruto wasn't sure whether or not to call it beautiful or hella sick. Regardless of that, it took a lot of pain endurance, something which Naruto was proud to say that he put his body through.

Not only did it look good, but Naruto loved the fact that it also had a function into it. Woven into the koi fish on his forearm, there was a storage seal there so that the blonde could store his blade. He couldn't wait to surprise the unsuspecting Neji with one swing!

After paying the cost of the outfit which was a fair chunk of the money in his wallet, Naruto went for one final meal at Ichiraku, barely able to contain his excitement for the following day.

**x-X-x **

"Alright, so you've mastered the first stage of your elemental training. Good, now here is a book that I have written." Jiraiya said, tossing one of the last copies that he had of 'The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi'

Without knowing what she was getting herself in for, Ino squealed with joy, grinning that she was going to learn more about sex, especially from a male perspective. Hopefully, in her eyes, it would help her with being able to seduce her crush Sasuke Uchiha.

That was, until she saw the title of the book. "The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi?" Ino looked curiously on for a second. "This doesn't seem like an adult book?" that curiosity was slowly turning into a frown. She had trained hard to win the chance to read a book that was meant for adults.

"Ahhh, the old bait and switch. Worked out quite well if I do say so myself!" Jiraiya said with the biggest grin on his face. "I said I would give you a book that I wrote. I never said which one. This was the first book that I ever wrote. It's my proudest work, I cared about that book than I do about Icha Icha. Unfortunately it flopped pretty hard haha." Jiraiya said whilst scratching the back of his neck in embarrassment as he spoke.

As much as she wanted to curse out her sensei, she knew he was right. Plus, for all the the advise and training she had received, it didn't seem quite fair. "Thanks Jiraiya-sensei." Ino said with a drawl but promised herself she would read it tonight.

It was the final day before the exams and she was itching to do something but her most recent sensei forbade her. Today she was to rest and recover so that she was optimal for her fight tomorrow.

"Have a read of it and let me know what you think." Jiraiya said with hope. The book was long forgotten about and mostly geared to a teenage boy demographic but he hoped the girl liked it.

"Thanks Jiraiya-sensei. I will." The emotionally intelligent girl responded. In addition to this, she got up and gave the man a quick hug. She was thankful for all the training that she had received over the month. Yamanaka Ino was aware that he was doing it because her father had paid the man quite a bit of money and maybe cashed in a few favors.

Despite all of this, the original fight with Gaara which she realized was her being completely stubborn and prideful, thinking that she could fight with someone on that level compared to where she was. The fact that this man in front of her was able to close the gap and bring her up father than she ever thought in a month, was testament to his skill.

Never in a million years would she have believed that she could get to this point and it was all due to her stubborn nature.

After saying goodbye, Ino made her way to dinner with her teammates. When she got there, it was just Asuma, which was no surprise considering how lazy both Shikamaru and Choji were. "Hey Asuma-sensei!" Ino called out as she saw the man and gave him a quick hug that was returned.

"Hey kid. So are you ready for tomorrow?" He tentatively questioned, knowing just how big the day was. Her life was going to be on the line against Gaara and they had both seen what he was capable of.

"Yep. I don't think I could have prepared any more than what I did. Everyone, including you and especially Shikamaru and Choji will be!"

"I hope we will be. So how did the training go?" Asuma questioned which brought a grin from the girl.

"Oh you know, a bit of ninjutsu here, a bit of chakra control there and some conditioning, you know, standard stuff." Ino didn't want to give away all of her secrets after all.

"That's awfully vague." Asuma deadpanned which brought a giggle from his female student. She nodded in reply.

"I'm sorry that I didn't get to train with you at all during the month Asuma-sensei." Ino commented, and she did feel bad. There was no doubt in her mind that the man wanted to help her out.

He laughed which made her feel better, showing her that he wasn't annoyed. "Hey Jiraiya is one of the sannin. I've seen how strong he is and he is a monster of a shinobi. If you get the chance to learn from him, then definitely take it. He trained the Yondaime so he must know what he is doing."

Relief flooded through Ino and nodded vigorously. "Definitely." As she said this, both Shikamaru and Choji entered.

Shikamaru for his part analyzed his teammate intently, having not seen her for the past month. He wanted to make sure she knew what she was getting into and that she was ready for the fight of her life. From what he could see, her posture was confident as ever. He also noticed that the sleeveless tank top she wore, showed off that not only had her arms gotten bigger, they were also more defined.

_Good she took her training seriously. I wonder what she has learnt in the past month._

"It's good to see you again Ino-chan." Choji came in and waved to his teammate, offering the bag of chips to her. In the past she always said no due to her self imposed dietary restrictions. Choji's eyes widened and a big smile followed shortly after as he watched her put her hand in and grab, not just one but three chips.

It was a statement that she was making as she looked Shikamaru who was like a brother to her in the eyes whilst doing this. He nodded before replying. "I'm not sure whether you are more troublesome now or before." There was a bored look on his face but his eyes said otherwise.

A full blown devilish smirk was what he got back. "Oh I am way more troublesome now. Good luck keeping up Shika." Ino commented back, knowing that she had put the work in over the past month to be cocky.

It wasn't cocky if you could back it up. She just had to prove that she belonged. No one else thought she did.

**x-X-x **

Finishing up putting on his new outfit, Naruto channeled chakra into his arm and sealed the sword up. With everything ready and having had 150grams of cooked rice and 400grams of salmon, he was ready for an action packed day.

Headed to the stadium, Naruto jumped along the roofs with a full stomach and looked out at the village that he called home. The blonde had been through a lot and gone through a lot of hardships. Despite all, he cared about the place.

Whilst he wistfully looked on at his village, the genin was innately aware of what his standing in said village was. A win at these exams would do wonders for increasing his standing in the village and make some of the people start looking at him like he was someone, that he wasn't just the demon that so many people saw him as.

It was why Naruto vowed to not use the Kyubi's chakra during the exams. He wanted to show that all of the hard work that he had done during training, would allow others to see him as Naruto, not as the Kyubi.

Arriving at the stadium, Naruto walked through the area of competitors and found himself standing near the other competitors who had arrived. Only Shikamaru and and Sasuke were missing. _That's not surprising Shikamaru lazy and Sasuke is with Kakashi-sensei._

Looking at his opponents, Naruto's gaze first went to his opponent. Neji Hyuga. He looked very much the same as before, during the preliminaries. Naruto sized him up and from what he had seen during the last fight against Hinata, he felt confident. However, Naruto knew that Neji would have gotten better as well.

From there, Naruto looked at the other two potential people he may have to fight if he was the one who beat Neji. His eyes couldn't help but go past Ino, first noticing her hair that was out of its usual pony tail. _Wasn't her hair short after her fight with Sakura? _In addition, he noticed what she was wearing. Naruto was a teenage boy after all. She was wearing a matching pair of yoga pants and a long sleeve crop top. Both items were dual tone purple, one light and dark. Naruto didn't even noticed the tanto that was hanging from her back.

Looking up, he was greeted with piercing blue eyes that noticed exactly where he was looking. They were filled with mirth. Naruto blushed and quickly turned away and focused on himself. _She didn't get angry. _

Ino for her part smirked to herself. After all the time where Sasuke never acknowledged her looks and she started following Jiraiya's advice of focusing on herself, it was funny that she had Naruto of all people checking her out. It felt good, having someone look at her, especially the guy who absolutely loved her rival.

_When did Naruto get a fashion sense? Looks much better than the filthy Jumpsuit he used to wear. I wonder what that drawing is on his arm?_

Naruto quickly turned his attention to Gaara and caught his eyes. This time though, Naruto didn't flinch. The blonde stared down Gaara, fully prepared to fight him. It was going to be hard but Naruto was not going to back down. He wanted to be top of the food chain and to get there, you have to beat whoever is there. As far as Naruto was concerned, Gaara was the top of the food chain for these exams.

Shikamaru quickly arrived shortly thereafter. "When do we get to kill people?" Gaara questioned to the proctor who just stared at the boy.

**x-X-x **

"Long time no see." Jiraiya said, in a disguise, with his long hair down the front of his face and wearing a black kimono. Something and he wasn't sure what, wasn't sitting right with the Toad Sannin and it was annoying him.

"Yes it is, Jiraiya-sama. Fancy seeing you here." Shikaku replied, enjoying sitting down not doing much. "I'm eager to see what you did with Ino. She has a lot of work cut out for her, considering what Shikamaru said about Gaara."

"Yes." Inoichi said through gritted teeth. "Please do tell what you taught her."

It was now clear to Chouza that even Inoichi didn't know what the legendary Sannin had taught Ino-chan. "This is going to be good to see. She's got that sword on her back and she has long hair. Didn't she cut it in her last fight Inoichi?

"Yeah" The only saving grace for Inoichi was that Jiraiya was known for growing his hair to absurd lengths to injure and defend. He was confident about one thing Ino was taught.

Jiraiya smirked. He was having great fun with this. "You'll just have to wait and see. Safe to say that I think you will be surprised. Inoichi didn't say anything. It wasn't Jiraiya's daughter who had their life on the line.

**x-X-x **

"Wow, Naruto ditched the jumpsuit." Sakura commented to which Kiba who looked on nodded in agreement.

"Yeah but it won't make him any better. He was lucky he beat me! He is so god damn lucky that I am have a super sensitive nose. Neji is going to destroy him.

Sakura could not ignore the Inuzuka's comments. If Naruto, hadn't improved massively over the past month, he was going to have a very tough time during this fight. _It looks a bit try-hard, that outfight. _As she thought about her teammate, Sakura realized that Naruto never came to visit her after her fight. Sakura didn't notice it straight away but at the end of the second week of the break between the exams, she felt lonely.

Both Sasuke and Kakashi were by themselves training for the exams, nowhere to be found. She knew that Sasuke had to leave due to the curse mark on his neck and to provide him a distraction free environment so that he could focus on refusing the influence of Orochimaru but it still sucked from her selfish point of view. She hadn't seen her one true love in the past three weeks!

Sakura hadn't seen Naruto either in the past few weeks and whilst she wouldn't let anyone know, for fear of it reaching Naruto himself, she missed the blonde. With Kakashi and Sasuke being as aloof as they were, it was fun having Naruto around.

As she looked down at Naruto in the ring, it was impossible to not notice the absence of her crush.=

She hoped he would get here on time.

**x-X-x **

Unaware of the thoughts going through the mind of his female teammate, Naruto prepared for his fight, bummed that his sensei was not there to watch and see how much he had improved. He was not surprised though. A look of annoyance came across his face. _I can't wait to become chunin. That way I don't have to deal with Team 7. _ A flood of memories came to Naruto, where he noticed how much Kakashi favored Sasuke and how often Sakura hit him instead of trying to provide support to the team. He didn't really have anything against Sasuke outside of his up himself attitude.

_Why do I like Team 7 again?_

Reading all of these expressions on the face of his opponent, Neji thought they were for him. "These eyes of mine show many things. Do you want to know what they see?"

Rolling his eyes, Naruto responded. "I don't really care what they see but I am sure that you are going to tell me anyway." The blonde said, waiting for the fight to begin.

Not showing any sign of hearing Naruto's comment, Neji continued on speaking. "I see a dead last who won't amount to anything. I see someone who got lucky and managed to win with flatulence. You have to understand that you have no chance of winning." Neji stated with supreme confidence that some might call arrogance.

Naruto's eyes narrowed. No one was going to rain on his parade unless it was him. "As if you have any say on what I can and can't do dattebayo!" Naruto replied back, never one to turn down a challenge. In fact, he thrived on it.

"Fate can and has. You will fall before my feet has decreed."

"No one gives a shit about fate. Just bring it dattebayo!" Naruto hotly replied as Neji got under his skin.

"**Fight between Neji Hyuga and Naruto Uzumaki! Begin!" **Genma called out using chakra to enhance his voice so that everyone could hear it.

Jiraiya who watched on in the crowd, had more interest in this fight than anyone else in the stadium.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Jutsu)!" Naruto called out fairly loudly as he made 20 clones which then charged at Neji. The Hyuga who had prepared for this, didn't feel at all out of place and prepared to face the incoming clones.

The original Naruto waited at the back and watched his clones go forward. He watched as each one got taken down with ease. The blonde grinned; he didn't this to be easy.

"If that is all you have got, then it is your destiny that you will lose to me today." Neji commented, not releasing his stance.

If there was one person where a comment about fate or destiny would trigger them, it was Naruto. He had been through so much despite his young life. "I'll shove destiny up your arse!" Naruto as he yet again created more clones.

Whereas last time he created 20, this time, he created 50. For anyone else, it was tantamount to suicide. For Naruto, it was yet another day in the office. This time though, the clones moved at full speed. It wasn't at the same speed in which Lee moved. It wasn't even close.

That didn't matter as much as Naruto could use his clones to overwhelm Neji and that was what they planned on doing. With the extra speed, Neji was not on the front foot compared to before. In fact, Neji was on the back foot.

The increase in muscle was paying off for the blonde who pressed Neji. His clones wrapping around from all angles, to make sure that when Neji moved to attack one clone, another was in place. Thanks to his chakra reserves, Naruto could go on all day. He did just that until he decided to send all 20 clones that were in the ring at Neji at the same time.

_Where is all this chakra coming from? This is not the same person that fought at the preliminaries! _What Neji didn't know was that back then, the blonde had a seal that inhibited his ability to use his chakra.

Seeing the overwhelming number of ninjas coming after him, Neji set his stance into one that only the Main branch should know, making the eyes of Hiashi who was in attendance gasp leaving Hanabi confused.

The original Naruto had decided to enter the fight at this time and started running towards Neji, placing his hand on his forearm with the tattoo. Just when he was about to release the sword from the seal, Neji started spinning really fast.

Naruto could see with his eyes just how much chakra Neji was using as he spun and killed all of the clones in quick succession. Eyes narrowed as he watched the attack. _I can't get hit by that. _Going back to his previous plan, the war of attrition, Naruto sent more clones. Each time he did it, he did it in a wave of 25.

For every single other shinobi in the world, this was a strategy that wouldn't work. After the third time that Neji used the Rotation, he was starting to sweat and pant. It was clear for Naruto to see that it took quite a lot to use the technique frequently. _He probably hasn't mastered it yet. _

Throwing one more wave in, Naruto took the chance to rush at Neji with a kunai in his hand and rushed at his opponent. When Naruto was a meter and a half out from where Neji stood, he timed his run, having watched how long Neji held the Kaiten for.

Right at the time that Neji was scheduled to end the Kaiten, Naruto dashed forward. He threw the kunai that was in his hand.

Neji who looked on, prepared himself to go on the offensive against the real Naruto, getting excited to finally get this fight over with. He needed to end it sooner or later.

Right as Naruto got a meter away from Neji, with little time to spare, Naruto moved his right arm his left forearm. Neji saw the tattoo and knew that the blonde was planning something but he wasn't sure what. Darting forward, Neji aimed to stop whatever it was that Naruto was planning on doing.

His eyes widened in surprise when he noticed Naruto channel chakra into what appeared to be a tattoo and watched in horror with eyes that rapidly opened as a large, dual sided sword came out. Naruto grabbed said sword and swung as quickly as he could.

Neji who had already committed hard into his assault on Naruto, did he best to change his momentum and backtrack as quickly as he could.

It wasn't enough.

The tail end of the teeth of the blade sunk into the side of Neji's hip and ripped out a significant chunk of skin. Blood started freely falling out. "Ahhh." Neji ground out, having never quite felt pain like this before. He had taken punches and even had broken bones before… but to have blood coming out of body from such a large suture was a new one for him.

Jagged teeth ripped through the fabric of Neji's clothes and quickly inserted itself in the thigh of Neji. The cut was from the side of his hip to the front of his right quad muscle.

Jumping back, Naruto let the wound sink in, happy to leave the onus on Neji to win the fight. He had made the first blow and was happy to play the long game; satisfied that he made the first hit.

**x-X-x **

"Don't think Neji expected to see that." Jiraiya said to Inoichi and the others in attendance. He was impressed by the seal that his godson had on his arm.

Chouza nodded. "He won't be able to use that surprise again though. From now on, everyone will be aware of that seal he has on his arm.

"If he has that trick up his sleeve though, what else does he have? From what Shikamaru told me about Naruto, his style has changed a bit. He is a bit more patient. He is still rushing in with his clones though."

Jiraiya didn't say anything, he just grinned. It was clear to see that his godson was getting stronger.

**x-X-x **

Sakura who watched on with surprise! "Where did Naruto get that sword! It doesn't look like a regular sword!?"

"Yeah!" Kiba commented "Where did the dead last get a good looking sword like that! Those teeth a sick! I bet I'd be better with a blade like that than Naruto." Cocky as ever, Kiba responded, never backing down from a challenge.

"Didn't he beat you Kiba?" Kurenai who was behind her student said to which Kiba jumped and turned around.

Red faced and embarrassed, Kiba jumped around to see his sensei. "He got lucky by farting! How am I supposed to prepare for that?"

There was a tiny smirk on the face of Kurenai, as she enjoyed occasionally messing with her students. "Then you should have ended the fight before it got to the point where he needed to pass wind." Kiba grumbled, knowing that his sense was right. "And to answer your question Sakura, it appears that Naruto has a tattoo on is arm which has a seal on it." Kurenai said, backing to the original question by the pink haired girl.

Eyes shot wide open for both Sakura and Kiba, neither of which expected Naruto to have a tattoo! Kiba wasn't against the idea of a tattoo at all. He would be a hypocrite to say otherwise.

Sakura on the other hand, came from a civilian background, in a time where tattoo's were only for clan markings. On closer inspection, the one on his arm, looked different and as far as she knew, Naruto was an orphan who wasn't a part of another clan. "He's just trying to be cool like Sasuke-kun." Sakura said without thinking.

Kurenai just looked impassively at the girl. She didn't know enough about the team dynamics of Team 7. When she saw Kiba roll his eyes though, Kurenai was fairly sure that she had the team dynamics pegged down fairly well. Kurenai had seen her skills during the chunin preliminaries and was not impressed at all.

**x-X-x **

Unaware of the judgment that he was receiving from his teammate, Naruto was more focused on what was coming out of Neji's mouth. He returned it with a smirk. "Who knows, I may become or I may not. I'm still beating you though dattebayo!"

"You're just a dead last. It was a lucky shot. Fate has decreed that a failure like you, will lose to me today!" Neji was losing hold on his temper, having been surprised about the sword and how he let himself fall into the trap of getting hit.

Thanks to his Byakugan, he was aware just how much damage had been done and he was now on the back foot. He had two options, he could rush the fight and hope to end it soon, or he could slow down the tempo to keep the blood loss to a minimum.

"You have to make your own luck!" This was not the first time that people had put down his hard work and tried to diminish his hard work by saying that he was just lucky, rather than he earned it. "I've put years of blood, sweat and countless tears into becoming who I am now! I'm not going to let some bastard tell me what I can and can't do!" Naruto narrowed his eyes as he remembered all the pain that was caused in his life that he had to go through to get to where he was now.

Unknowingly, Naruto pushed a few of Neji's buttons. That last comment of Naruto's in particular really rubbed Neji the wrong way.

"You wouldn't know anything! You don't a seal placed on you, out your control your servitude." As Neji said this, he then went onto remove his bandana, displaying to the blonde and to anyone watching, the seal that was placed on him. "This seal, is one that the main branch of the Hyuga clan place on those in the branch, which allows them to destroy the cerebral nerves of the brain, if they want.

My father was killed by the head of the family! It is a constant sign that only goes away through death, that I am bound to the whims of the main family! You don't know what it is like to have something like this!" Neji shouted and immediately all the anger that Naruto had, went away. He had found someone who had a similar shit story.

"I know better than anyone, what it is like to have a seal placed on you, without your consent that shapes the rest of your life. It hurts doesn't it, knowing that no matter what you do in life, there will always be that thought in the back of your mind, that you have to act and live your life a certain way, that you have to be seen as far away from a threat to their current way of life as possible. If you don't well death would probably be a better option..." Neji looked deeply into the eyes of Naruto who showed the upmost of conviction. The hyuga was searching for a sign of deceit but his eyes were unable to see anything of the sort.

_There's more to you than just your blonde hair Naruto. _Neji thought as he made up his mind about the fight. He had calmed down his heart rate for one final move. "That's the thing though, if you give up and believe in destiny and fate, it means that they are winning! They then get to control your life and live rent free in your head! By choosing to defy fate and destiny, you get to write your own life, on your terms!" Naruto shouted with passion as he picked up the sword from before but not before creating 50 clones this time, using the adrenaline that he had running through him after recounting his upbringing.

A small bit of sweat started appearing on Naruto's face, finally showing the first signs of his excess use of chakra was catching up to him.

Eyes widened at the sight of the 50 clones plus the real Naruto, that Neji got into a defensive stance. There was no way that he was going to be able to go up against that many clones on the offensive. "Get him!" Naruto shouted and twenty five clones rushed Neji, hoping to get another kaiten out of him.

Neji faced the battle of attrition but at least he could see the main Naruto easily, thanks to the sword that he was carrying. The rotation to move around and hit all clones that came at him with his chakra, wasn't as smooth as it was the previous times.

Spotting this, Naruto swung with his sword, slashing from the ground up to which Neji dodged by jumping backwards. There was a slight stumble on the injured leg as the Hyuga jumped back but he couldn't focus on it. Naruto was already following up with a new diagonal strike. Naruto, thanks to all of the muscle building that he had done over the past month, was fast enough to land a glancing strike on the right arm of Neji.

Blood started falling out, from the second the teeth dug into the arm, yanking a bit of flesh on the way out. "Ugh." Neji grunted out as he was unable to go on the offensive due to the constant incoming attacks from all angles. He wasn't even able to set up the right stance so that he could use one of his better moves.

Keeping the intense pressure on, Naruto managed to get yet another glancing blow, this time on the right side of his outer thigh, towards the knee. Naruto managed to connect the attack to the original wound which ignited the blood loss to be even more apparent. Neji's clothes were quite heavily stained.

In an immense amount of pain from the wounds that he had received and having just had yet another cut to his body with his vision getting blurry from blood loss, Neji weighed up his options.

"Proctor, I forfeit."


	4. Chapter 4

It wasn't a pretty fight, with flashy jutsus that wowed the crowd of civilians and ninjas alike. The lower the skilled shinobi or civilians, didn't find the fight all that exciting. They cheered nonetheless which was more than enough for Naruto.

The clapping was music to his ears, for so long, he had been after the applause and adoration of the village and this was the first time that he had received it on such a scale. As the medics rushed over to Neji, Naruto went over to his sword and sealed it back inside the tattoo and headed up the stairs, giving a brief wave to the crowd.

As Naruto went into the stairs, he smirked which no one could see; knowing that he already had a plan in motion for next fight.

**x-X-x **

"Naruto won!?" Sakura shouted in disbelief. The amount of progress that he had made in the past months was staggering for her. Whilst Naruto used much the same skill set as before, with the only exception being the sword. However, the application was far different.

This time round, Naruto controlled the entire fight, pretty much from start to finish, whereas, against Kiba, someone who wasn't as good at taijutsu, he ceded control for most of the time to the Inuzuka.

"Well I'll be damned. Definitely didn't expect Naruto to beat Neji. he's the prodigy of the Hyuga clan. I still would have beat Naruto if I was in the fight since I am top dog." Kiba commented, folding his arms across his chest.

Sakura was in shock. Naruto in front of her, had won the fight and it wasn't by luck. From the start, he had controlled the fight. _But he won't be able to use that trick with the sword again. _She said to justify to herself the skill gap that was on display. All of a sudden, Sakura felt weak. First, it was Ino who had managed to win against her.

At the time, Sakura was able to justify it by the fact that it was a close fight and Ino was a ninja from a clan background and had access to ninjutsu that Sakura did not. Now though, Naruto was throwing a spanner into the works. Naruto didn't have access to anything special like clan jutsus, and yet, here he was, defeating a prodigy of the Hyuga clan. A saddened expression came on her face as she realized how much of a difference there was between her and her teammates.

**x-X-x **

Proud couldn't even begin to describe what Jiraiya was feeling at that time. Despite not having seen the boy throughout the decade, Naruto was someone who he cared for. To see Minato and Kushina's son doing so well was great!

"He shows promise, although he only showed off his ridiculous chakra supplies and a hidden seal. That won't be enough for him to be promoted." Chouza mentioned with a smile on his face, happy for the boy. He had been dealt a rough life.

"On the other hand, he only showed his sword and his chakra reserves. For someone to be able to have that much chakra, they will be able to do more. Did you see how by the end, Naruto was only lightly sweating. There is possibly a lot more that Naruto has up those sleeves." Shikaku countered. There was a gleam in his eye. He could just sense that Naruto was hiding abilities. The question was just what was he hiding.

"I wonder what they would say about his tattooed sleeve on his arm though." Inoichi commented, the most traditional out of the three. He wasn't sure who would be more against it!

"Give it a rest Inoichi. The kid can do whatever he wants. He has earned that right." Jiraiya said with mirth. "Good thing is that Naruto has at least another match for to show us what he is made of." The Toad Sannin replied, eager to be surprised by his godson.

**x-X-x **

"Yet another troublesome blonde." That was the first thing that Naruto heard as he walked up the stairs. When he looked up and saw that it was coming from Shikamaru, he quickly then noticed the small smile that was on his face to which Naruto returned.

"You haven't seen anything yet. You may want to lose your next fight since you'll have to fight me!" Naruto said with a grin, that showed off his teeth.

"We'll see. I thought we were supposed to be the rejects, now you've gone and gotten all cool with that tattoo on your arm." Shikamaru responded, returning the smirk with one of his own. He was impressed in how much Naruto had improved over the past month. It was also impossible to not notice the fashion choices that Naruto had made as well.

"I'll say, looks much better than the eyesore that was the orange tracksuit. Congratulations Naruto on winning." Ino casually replied, not thinking much of it. She had seen just how much Naruto had improved, much like Shikamaru over the past month. She respected the work that he had put in, since she had done the same thing.

Naruto blushed faintly. It was the first time he had ever received a compliment from a girl that wasn't Ayame. A psychologist would have a field day with the Uzumaki. "Thanks Ino-chan." Naruto didn't even realize why he added the -chan on the end, it just happened naturally. Before he could think too much of it, Naruto felt eyes on him.

It was Gaara's.

_Guess I have newfound interest. Shows that I've gotten much better! Heh, fuck yeah dattebayo._

"The next fight is between Shikamaru Nara and Temari Sabaku. Fighters make your way down to the ring!" Genma Shiranui called out. Temari made her way to the ring straight after, as she was eager to warm up for what was to come.

Naruto, who felt that Shikamaru was taking more time than what was necessary, picked him up and gave him a friendly helping hand by chucking him over the edge.

"Did you really have to do that Naruto?" Ino giggled although there was no chastising or yelling.

Naruto immediately had a hand go up to the back of his neck and scratch his head sheepishly. "Shika's a lazy prick at the best of times. He needed the push or it would be sundown by the time he got to the ring!"

Ino laughed. She definitely agreed with that sentiment. Even Asuma who had just arrived into the stands and took a seat next to Kurenai laughed as he saw Shikamaru land on his back.

**x-X-x **

"Come on Shika!" Ino shouted from the competitors box as she watched the match, that was seemingly in Temari's favor. Her teammate was in the ring and she was not shy in encouraging her teammates.

Naruto was not gonna stop the closest thing he could call a friend from losing. "Yeah! Come on!"

As Naruto shouted, the Yamanaka girl realized that she had never really spoken to Naruto before. _It would be good time to ask about Sasuke-kun. Neither Sakura or Sasuke are here and it would be good to get an opinion from a guy and someone who sees him all the time!_

"Hey Naruto, do you know where Sasuke-kun is? He still hasn't showed up yet." Ino was beginning to wonder if he would even show up at all. There was no way that the Sasuke that she knew would willingly miss this.

Naruto almost rolled his eyes. _Of course, it's always about Sasuke. _"No Idea where the bastard is. Kakashi-sensei is always late to everything by like three hours but I thought he would have been here to at least watch my match..." Naruto trailed off, giving Ino a lot to unpack about the team dynamics of Team 7.

"Wow, that sucks Naruto. Sorry to hear that." Ino replied. She had seen Asuma in the stands for the match of Shikamaru and knew that he would be watching her fight as well. To think Naruto's sensei missed Naruto's fight to be late, alongside Sasuke, made her feel bad for the Uzumaki genin.

"Ehh, I'm used to it by now."

Ino's eyes widened at that comment. _So this isn't just a one time thing. There was also Sakura being not really any different compared to the academy when we fought... _She ignored the fact that neither was she. It just made her wonder what Team Seven was really like.

"What does Sasuke-kun talk about at training. Does he talk to forehead much?" Ino changed topics, wanting information on her crush, albeit one that was waning.

Naruto placed his fingers on his head and thought about it. "Not much really. Only ever talks about getting revenge. He only talks to Sakura-chan when he absolutely has to 'cause he reckons she is weak and annoying'."

It was reassuring for her that at least Sakura wasn't getting cozy with Sasuke although it made her question whether or not she would have been any different? Wasting time on boys. It didn't sound all that appealing now.

"Winner by forfeit, Temari Sabaku!"

"**WHAT!?**" Both blondes sharply turned around and yanked their heads towards the arena to see that Shikamaru's shadow retreated off of Temari who had a dumbfounded look on her face.

"But it looked like he was winning Dattebayo!?" Naruto wondered out loud with confusion.

"Yeah, I bet he thought having to fight another fight was troublesome. That damn lazy ass Nara." Ino never intended for it to be a compliment but Naruto took it is as one. They watched Temari continue to be dumbfounded as Shikamaru walked back to the competitors box. The look of confusion quickly turned into one of rage. She was not happy at all. She didn't feel like she won that fight.

"Will Sasuke Uchiha and Dosu Kinuta please come down to the ring for the next match!" Genma yelled out to the crowd. As the show the went on, Naruto got confused and then angry.

"How can they start the fight if Sasuke-teme isn't here yet? Or are they going to wait for him to arrive!?" The injustice of the event was not one that went over Naruto's head. He knew that if he was in the same position, he would definitely not be getting the same treatment.

Even Ino, who was one of Sasuke's biggest supporters, saw how this was unfair to everyone else when it was announced that they were waiting for ten minutes for Sasuke Uchiha.

That annoyance quickly turned into great displeasure when she then found out that they would be shifting the matches around so that Sasuke would be fighting at the end and it was now her time to fight and she was going up against Gaara.

"Ino, be careful out there. I know you're going to give it your best, but don't feel like you can't forfeit." Shikamaru looked seriously in her eyes and she appreciated the sentiment.

"Yeah Ino, what Shikamaru said. Don't feel like you have to go out there and fight to the death. The proctor will end the fight." Naruto said in addition as he there was something about Gaara that didn't sit well in his gut intuition.

"Got it guys, but this is something that I have to do. I have to prove people wrong, but more importantly, I need to prove to myself that I belong here as a strong Kunoichi. And plus, this girl's got a few tricks up her sleeves." the blonde kunoichi replied with a wink. Before jumping down into the arena and landing with a small dip in her legs.

"Let's get this over with." Gaara commented out loud if, not caring one iota if Ino could here him. Gaara had seen what she could do, or rather what she couldn't do at the chunin exams and he didn't expect for their to be any improvement that would make this an interesting fight.

Triggered, Ino's face twitched. She knew that she didn't have much ground to stand on, given the fact that she had only started training seriously the past month, but she deserved some respect! She hadn't made it this far by being useless!

**x-X-x **

"Oh relax Inoichi haha." Jiraiya's voiced boomed as he patted the man's back whilst laughing.

Inoichi just stared at the man. "Easy for you to say when it's my daughter's life that is on the line, not yours."

Trying to squash anything before it started, it was Shikaku who spoke up. "Jiraiya-sama is a fabled shinobi and teacher Inoichi. He taught the Yondaime Hokage. There is no doubt in mind that Ino has picked up a few things. Plus, Genma is a competent ninja of the village. He will not let anything happen to your daughter, that is not out of the realms of being a ninja. Have some faith."

"Plus, at least you get to now see what Ino-chan has been bragging about all month. You can see how much she has grown and how proud you are of her of fighting on such a big stage." Chouza commented, hoping to perk up his friend.

"True. I'm always proud of my girl though." Inoichi replied, indeed intently watching to see whether or not it was worth paying Jiraiya that large some of money to teach his daughter for a month.

"She's got a lot of talent Ino. Far more than I initially expected. It wouldn't surprise me if given a couple of years, she ended up on the same level as another blonde I know." Eyes widened as Jiraiya said this. It was known that due to Tsunade being his teammate, he had a very high standard when it came to assessing kunoichi abilities. Many Konoha women wanted to be on the same level as Tsunade but no one had been able to do so since.

For Jiraiya of all people to say this and without sarcasm, it was a big deal.

**x-X-x**

"Come on Ino-chan, please don't die." Sakura whispered under her breath as she watched with baited breath. As much as their rivalry had damaged their friendship, Sakura still cared for the girl. _It could have easily been me in there! _Sakura knew how scared she was at the thought of fighting Gaara. She had no idea how Ino was able to handle herself in this position.

Much like Sakura who was nervous for her friend, Ino's sensei Asuma was even more nervous. Kurenai slipped her hand underneath Asuma's which was gripping the seat hard. Kurenai wasn't a woman of many words as she was concerned that actions spoke far more. The look that she got in return spoke volumes.

"At least you will be able to see now how much Ino has improved over the past month."

"Yeah." Asuma replied before his attention back into the ring."

**x-X-x **

Back in the ring, the Yamanaka girl, under all the watchful eyes, started feeling the pressure of the situation she was in. As much as she was confident that she was going to prove a lot of people wrong, the weight of where she was and who she was fighting against was finally weighing on her. She had heard from Kiba about how Gaara had killed multiple people with ease during the chunin exams and she had seen what he had done to Lee!

Closing her eyes for a second Ino inhaled and then exhaled a big breath before opening her eyes with determination. Scared as all hell, but nonetheless determined. _This is make or break!_

She pulled out a scroll from her pocket and then unsealed the scroll to reveal a slim ninjato sword.

"This is it."

"Let the fight between Ino Yamanaka and Gaara Sabaku, begin!" Genma shouted to cheering from the crowd.

And then she was off.

Sprinting to hopefully catch Gaara off guard, Ino held her sword with two hands and channeled chakra into her legs just like she had been practicing for the entire week. Within a mere second, Ino had manage to close the gap to her opponent and she smirked at the sight in front of her.

Gaara's eyes no longer showed contempt and boredom. They showed great amounts of surprise and dare she say it… fear?

With this spurring her on, Ino did her best to channel lighting release into her blade and dodged the incoming sand, ready to halt her in her tracks. Lashing out, Ino swung her sword in a downward motion to cut off Gaara's arm.

**x-X-x **

Safe to say, that Inoichi didn't expect the speed in which his daughter just moved. Considering the expression on his face, you would think he saw a ghost, his jaw was hanging that far down.

"She's quick" Was all that Shikaku could say as he was equally shocked and impressed at his goddaughter.

A shit eating grin formed on the face of Jiraiya. "Who said you had to limit yourself to using great chakra control to super strength?" He smugly commented which raised even more eyebrows from the men sitting next to him. "With her natural affinity for the brain, combined with latent great chakra control, all it took was adding the lightning element to help the girl modify her synapse to move her body much faster."

_That's genius! _Inoichi thought to himself. Watching the speed his daughter moved at, he was suddenly a lot more confident in his girl. A massive smile was brought to his face. "Go Ino-chan!" Inoichi shouted from the stands.

**x-X-x**

Sakura could only look on in shock. _How the hell did Ino get so fast?_

One moment she was there, the next she was gone.

Kiba was in a similar state of wide eyed disbelief, only he was more vocal about it. "How the fuck did she manage to get so damn fast compared to one month ago!?"

Kurenai who was too surprised to reprimand her student watched and asked herself the exact same question. Thankfully, Gai, who had brought Lee to the arena was able to shed some light. There was a thoughtful expression and a serious tone to his voice. It was rare for Gai to be this serious although you could here the excitement in his voice. "She is definitely using chakra to increase her speed. There is no way that she could have gotten that fast in that time period without it. To think that she has managed to increase her speed this much though… She must be doing something else as well. How youthful!"

Watching as her rival darted around the ring at such high speeds, it made Sakura feel insecure and not for the first time either. _Is the gap between us that big? Was Ino holding out to be nice to me? _The pink haired girl felt pretty worthless in comparison to her former best friend.

**x-X-x **

The blade she swung, managed to bypass the first layer of the defense. The blonde haired girl kept pushing her blade, hoping to make a hit that would significantly increase her chances. Her blade connected with the second line of defense which was the sand armor that Gaara wore. It chipped away but unfortunately it didn't completely break through.

_Dammit! If only I was stronger! _Ino mentally chastised herself as her blade wasn't able to cut through the sand. She tried pushing harder but had to cut her losses as she saw the incoming sand, hoping to smash her face in.

Moving at an insane speed compared to what she was capable of the month before, Ino ducked under the incoming attack and swung her blade at Gaara's legs, hoping to take one off. Again, it was much of the same where she was unable to fully break through and have her blade pierce the sand armor.

_Guess I have to turn it up a notch._

In addition to channeling her lightning chakra into her body, the Yamanaka girl gripped her blade just that little bit tighter as she channeled lightning chakra into that as well. The blade shook in her hands, making it clear to the keen eye that she was still in the learning stages of her technique.

Swinging the blade, it rumbled in her hand as she struggled to control the vibrations. Blade connected with sand which sent a static shock through the blade and into Gaara himself.

"Agh!" both Gaara and Ino shouted at the same time. Due to her focus going to the blade, Ino lost control of channeling her lightning chakra into her body. Her speed dropped significantly. Gaara was able to hit her with his automatic shield. It pushed her back a meter and she staggered to her feet.

Seeing the crazed look in the eyes of her opponent, knowing that no doubt, she had made an impression on the previously bored face of Gaara, Ino jumped to the side to easily, thanks to her chakra and held her blade in one hand. The other hand went through hand seals and channeled chakra into her hair.

Glorious blonde hair shot forward, hardening like steel and slammed into the wall of sand that was brought up. It wasn't able to break the wall but it was enough of a distraction that Gaara was forced to concede the sand that was chasing after Ino.

"Yes! Keep proving my existence!" Gaara screamed his lungs out. The fight was rapidly gaining his interest.

"Whatever Psycho!" Ino fought back verbally. She was panting hard.

**x-X-x **

"She needs to quit, soon."Asuma commented quietly, enough that only Kurenai and Kiba could here it. Kurenai nodded, having an idea what must be going through her friend's head.

"What do you mean she needs to quit!?" Kiba exclaimed. As far as he could tell, Ino was doing really well. "She's got him on the ropes with that speed!" Even he, someone who was much faster than Ino a month before, was struggling to comprehend what was happening in front of his eyes.

"Her chakra reserves." Gai commented, coming to the same conclusions as Asuma. "Her Youthful display is draining her chakra reserves and fast. She might have great control, but her reserves are tiny or jutsu she is using that is to speed up requires a lot of chakra.

Eyes widened. _Even still, to put up this much of a fight, Ino has really improved! _Sakura thought to herself.

"Plus, when did Ino get hot?" Kiba mumbled to himself although Sakura heard. He was swiftly given a punch to the head.

**x-X-x **

"Proctor, I forfeit!" Ino shouted out, making it clear her position in the fight. A minute had passed since the comment from her sensei Asuma but it was enough for her speed to reduce enough for Gaara to get a clean hit on her stomach. It caused a cut to appear and for blood to start falling from her abdomen.

Ino had quickly realized early on in her training that she only had one chance. She was either going to stun the audience within seconds of the fight starting or her chances of winning were going to go progressively down the drain.

Once she found out that her blade was not strong enough by herself and she was too slow to use the power her element provided, she knew the fight was over. From there on, it was displaying skill as best as she could to increase her chances of promotion.

When the versatility of her hair based ninjutsu had shown the fact that she could attack, defend and grab items with her hair as well as she had managed to learn how to do one handed ninjutsu, she knew she was done. The blonde called her hair back to its normal length, hanging freely from her neck and ending at her lower back.

No one was more pissed than Gaara! "Nooo! I know mother! It was just getting good. There was blood!" Gaara shouted as he cradled his head in his hands, hunched over.

"Winner. Gaara Sabaku." Genma said and then jumped forward in front of Ino, not willing to take any chances, having heard what Gaara did to Gai's student.

**x-X-x **

No one was more thankful for Ino to lose than Inoichi was. His daughter got the chance to challenge herself, which in the process made her grow tremendously and yet, come out unscathed.

He was beyond proud that she was able to realize where she was outmatched and ended the fight on her terms, rather than Gaara ending the match or even worse. "Thank you Jiraiya-sama. This meant a lot to me I am sure, meant a lot more to my daughter."

"Ehhh, think nothing of it. Ino did the work, not me. I just challenged her to be less shit."

"It's contentious whether or not she will make chunin but she has no doubt set herself up for future success." Chouza commented, like Inoichi proud in the blonde haired girl.

**x-X-x **

"Holy Shit Ino! You're quick!" Naruto was the first to comment as the girl entered up the stands from her place in the ring. Naruto was shocked at what he had just seen. The Ino that he previously knew had completely changed in front of him in terms of skill.

Too exhausted to comment, Ino let Naruto's compliment float over her head as she dropped to a slouch against the railing. Shikamaru was the first over there by her side. An action she was grateful for.

"You're definitely more troublesome now." Shikamaru commented in a drawl but there was a big smile on his face.

"Damn straight Shika."

She caught her breath enough to stand upright, her gut telling her that something was about to happen. Ino stood up and turned around on instinct to find Gaara walking up the stairs and clutching his head.

"Yes mother! We shall prove our existence… soon mother, soon there will be blood." The deranged boy whispered, clutching his head, completely ignoring everyone in the competitors box.

"Next match. Kankuro Sabaku vs Shino Aburame." Genma called which got the attention of the fighters.

What happened next when Kankuro had made his way down to the ring, annoyed the entire crowd and made no sense to a lot of people. It was yet another forfeit. This time though, before the fight had started. At least with Shikamaru and Ino, they showcased their skills to the best of their abilities before ending the fight.

"Next match. Sasuke Uchiha, vs Dosu Kinuta."

All of the fighters, especially Dosu, were interested to see what would happen, given that the uchiha was still yet to arrive.

"This is bullshit!" Naruto called out as he found out shortly thereafter that he was going to have to wait for his rival and teammate for another ten minutes. It just wasn't fair.

Both Shikamaru and Ino shared the same sentiment.

Right at the last second, Kakashi and Sasuke arrived in the ring, flush with an entrance that garnered all of the attention. "Did we make it in time?" Kakashi asked with a one eyed smile, annoying Genma in the process.

What followed next was the starting of a fight with one of Konoha's favorite ninjas. The crowd went wild. Once again, Naruto felt jealousy.

Sasuke started the fight by pulling out two Fuma shuriken from his back, throwing them at the confident Sound ninja.

Dosu was confident, because he saw the blade was thrown and it was a meter either side of him. "Is that the best that you can do?" Dosu cockily questioned.

"Dumbass..." Sasuke mumbled to himself as he quickly went through hand seals. "Raiton: Shuriken Chenrinku (Lightning Release: Shuriken Chain Lightning!" Sasuke called out as a bolt of horizontal lightning shot out towards the fuma shuriken.

Dosu who had jumped between the two shuriken, suddenly found himself in a position he did not want to be in. Once the jutsu of Sasuke connected to the two blades, it used the middle as a pivot point and encircled Dosu.

If he wanted to dodge, he would have to jump but it was too late. The shuriken that changed direction, came back and chopped off the right leg and left arm of the genin. It was gruesome and surprisingly for those watching, not expecting the decapitation.

"Winner of the fight. Sasuke Uchiha!" Genma hurriedly called out before shouting "Medics!"

**x-X-x**

Naruto watched in shock. He didn't expect Sasuke's fight to end quite the way it did. Neither did Sasuke to be honest. It was only the schooling of his emotions to come to the terms with the fact that he had killed his first person.

Turning around, Sasuke headed back to the the competitors box with his hands in his pocket. As he did this, the crowd was stunned silent. For all of the build up, it was quite anti climatic and ended quickly.

"Didn't know they let losers in here dumbass." Sasuke commented as he entered up the stairs, spotting his teammate. There was the ever present smirk on his face.

Naruto easily rose to the bait. "For your information asshole, I won my fight. Surprised you managed make it on time."

It was at this time that Sasuke paid attention to the fact that Naruto was wearing a completely new outfit. Thinking that Naruto was trying to copy him by being 'cool' especially after seeing the tattoo on Naruto's arm, Sasuke replied. "Jealous that Kakashi taught me and not you?"

Naruto's face turned from what was friendly natured banter into actual anger. "Not at all. You don't scare me. I'll destroy you and prove that I am the top of the food chain once and for all. I'm done caring about trivial shit. Now, I just care about being the best." The Uzumaki genin said from a wounded position. He was lying through his face. He definitely did care about being liked. He just didn't want Sasuke to know that.

Sasuke smirked, knowing he won, although he had to hit below the belt to do it. "Keep telling yourself that dead last."

Ino who was watching on chose not to comment as she felt that it wasn't her place. _Sasuke's mean. The Sasuke I remembered never would have done a low blow. _What Ino didn't realize was that she had placed Sasuke on a pedestal previously and in that, he could do wrong. Now that her previous thoughts were getting confronted, she didn't know what to think.

**x-X-x **

"So what did I miss? How did Naruto go?" Kakashi sheepishly commented as he arrived back to the stands where Gai and Lee were. As much as Gai wanted to comment about Kakashi missing the fight, he knew that he had no ground to stand on, since he missed Neji's fight due to escorting Lee.

Sakura for her part was merely thankful that Sasuke had arrived and yet horrified that she had watched her beloved cut someone's arm and leg off.

"The dead last won surprisingly." Kiba commented.

"Well that's good." Kakashi commented with a surprised smile underneath his mask. Thankfully for Kakashi was able to hide his surprise behind an eye smile and a pleasant tone of voice. He would admit privately, that he didn't think that Naruto would be able to accomplish that. "How did it go?"

It was Asuma who spoke next. "Kid controlled the whole match." It was one thing for a genin to say Naruto won. It meant that there was a chance he got lucky and knowing Naruto as the number one hyperactive knucklehead ninja aided to that. It was another thing entirely though for a seasoned Jonin like Asuma to say that Naruto _controlled _the fight.

"Really?"

"Yep. Kid used shadow clones like only he can and then surprised him with a blade. From there, it was simply a war of attrition which no one is going to be able to win against Naruto." Kakashi picked up what Asuma was putting down in regards to Naruto. _He used his skill sets thanks to the Kyubi. It's good that Jiraiya taught him. _At least that was the thought going through Kakashi's mind. Little did he know.

**x-X-x **

After a 30 minute break, the second round of the chunin exams begun.

"Don't lose dobe." Sasuke called out to which Naruto turned around.

"How can I when I have the chance to smash Gaara's face in the final?" Naruto had a smug expression on his face as he jumped off into the arena.

Naruto faced Temari in the ring. The second the bell went, Naruto darted forward, in the same direction that Temari jumped back, hoping to create some space. He had seen the previous fight where she was a long distance fighter whilst he was not. Or he didn't want to show that just yet.

He wasn't as fast as Ino but his speed had still improved to the point where Temari wasn't able to create the space in which she wanted to open up her fan. She had seen how quickly Naruto was able to get his sword out from that seal and into his hands. That was quicker than what she could to open up, set herself up and then swing.

Much to Temari's surprise, Naruto was happy to keep sprinting at what seemed like his fastest pace. Temari was weaving her way through the trees to separate the two. "Goo!" Naruto shouted to which Temari immediately turned around to look in horror as a rock morphed itself back into Naruto and flung aimed at her ribs. She didn't have time to dodge.

It connected. The metallic blade sliced through the fabric of Temari's kimono on the side and then into the skin. There was a medium sized cut but thankfully nothing critical was pierced.

As the Suna Kunoichi exited the shrubbery, another kunai embedded itself from yet another clone that was left in the woods. "How long have you been storing those clones there!?" Temari yelled, frustrated at the fact that this was the second time that a Konoha shinobi was schooling her.

"Since the fight with Neji. Seems to be working dattebayo." Naruto cheekily called out placing his right arm over his left bicep. Whereas he had his sword in his forearm, Naruto also had a place where he could store a storage scroll.

"What, yet another trick up your sleeve!?" Temari angrily shouted, not liking the fact that she was on the back foot the entire fight.

Naruto ignored her. It was time to show off some more skills. He wanted that promotion. "Release!"

What happened next surprised everyone in the stadium. No one, not even the Hokage was able to hold back their surprise at the amount of water that came flying out of the scroll. It was as if Naruto had managed to store a large lake in the scroll.

"So much water!" Temari shouted, not knowing exactly what to do in this situation. This was the largest body of water that she had come across. So much so in fact that it filled the ring inside the stadium by a couple of inches!

Naruto quickly noted the fact that she didn't stand on the surface of the water. "You have had your playing field, the air for your wind ninjutsus. I thought I should even out the playing field by bringing you into my domain." it was clear that Naruto was now willing to let this fight go to a ninjutsu war. If there was anyone who could outlast Naruto in a ninjutsu contest, he would like to meet them.

**x-X-x **

"Did you know about this Kakashi?" Gai watched with fascination, always eager to see what the next generation would bring.

"Something along those lines..." Kakashi mumbled in response. All of the Jonin picked up on the fact that he had no idea about this. _To think he is able to use water ninjutsu._

"Is Naruto now going to try and use water ninjutsu Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura questioned, unsure of what she was witnessing. None of it made sense how Naruto and Ino for that matter had improved so much over the past month.

"I doubt that that he would be releasing all that water if he couldn't" Kiba replied, to which Akamaru yelped in agreement.

Kakashi could only wonder how much he had missed out on, had Jiraiya really taught Naruto elemental manipulation?

**x-X-x **

The competitors box was much the same; filled with surprise. Ino had wide eyes, not believing what she saw. _I guess Naruto took the training seriously as well._

Sasuke watched with ever keen focus, desperately wanting to see want his rival was able to accomplish.

Meanwhile, Gaara was interested in the fight for the first time, despite his sister being in it. Gaara hoped that a worthwhile fight might come from Naruto. He was still raring to go and barely calmed down since the previous fight just ended. He had never really fought a good water user.

Shikamaru meanwhile was wondering how the hell Naruto had improved so much in such a small space of time. It didn't make sense.

**x-X-x **

"Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu (Water Release: Water Bullet Jutsu!" Naruto called out as he expelled a soccer ball sized sphere of water aimed directly at Temari.

"It's going to take more than a glorified puddle to be able to beat me!" Temari shouted out as she got her fan out ready and swung her own jutsu in response. Now the fight was turning into something that she was comfortable with.

The two jutsus collided with Temari's winning but only barely. By the time it had reached Naruto, it had fizzled out into a harsh wind, albeit one that caused no damage. Temari panted, wondering how this kid could have so much chakra! Little did she know.

Naruto fired off the same jutsu and moved diagonally to the left, closing the gap between himself and Temari. Temari swung her fan yet again, expecting the same result but fully aware that Naruto wasn't going to rest at that.

"Suiton: Wani no Ago! (Water Release: Mouth of the Crocodile!)" Naruto called out as he placed his hands on the water's surface. It was a harder jutsu and thus required more control.

A wave of water that was a meter wide and two meters tall. The break of the wave was formed into the head of a crocodile with its jaws wide open, fangs of water protruded out. It rushed forward towards Temari who merely prepared to swing her fan once more.

Naruto quickly followed up by running this hands through similar hand seals. "Suiton: Wani tsuiseki kiba (Water Release: Crocodile Tracking Fang.)" Naruto called out as he placed his hands on the water's surface in front of him. Two crocodiles, each a meter long made out of water formed and immediately separated and aimed at their target. Each of the two crocodiles scampered across the surface of the water whilst arcing their runs.

_Shit! There is no way I can create an attack that will hit so wide that everything will be taken out. _The ever proud girl thought to herself as she readied her fan for one of her strongest attacks. "Futon: Daitoppa (Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!)" Temari called out with emphasis whilst swinging her fan.

Sweat was dripping from her brow as she manipulated her chakra to come out of the fan. As she swung the fan from left to right, the attack from the fan took out the right crocodile that was scampering towards her. It also managed to hit the one on the left and destabilize the jutsu. It wasn't however, enough to breakdown the mouth of the crocodile that Naruto had sent down the middle.

Had she known that the technique that Naruto had used was B-ranked, she would have put more effort into dodging, rather than fighting head on. Temari was not the most well versed in water ninjutsu. She was from the village hidden in the sand after all.

The water hit her in the abdomen, right where the previous wound was, adding extra pain. It sent Temari tumbling to the water and soaking her kimono. "Ahh!" She screamed whilst she was getting dunked underwater.

When she regained her awareness, temari quickly moved to open her eyes and get up although she was faced with something rather problematic. There was a sword right in front of her face.

"I'm not Shika. I'm going to win the chunin exams dattebayo! You better forfeit." Naruto said loudly enough, getting the attention of the proctor.

"I forfeit." Temari grumbled through gritted teeth. _Just where had this boy come from? Was he holding out earlier during the preliminaries!?_

Channeling chakra, Naruto let the sword recede back into his arm. He was breathing hard but not panting. The amount of chakra that he had used today was beginning to catch up with even him.

"Winner of the fight is Naruto Uzumaki!"


	5. Chapter 5

Kakashi Hatake couldn't help but be really proud of his student, despite the sense of shame that started to fill inside him. The one prevailing thought going through his mind was that he knew Naruto would not have achieved the same sorts of success that he had, if Kakashi was teaching him.

It made the man feel a like a failure, that it wasn't himself that had taught Naruto. Minato and Kushina's son had improved so much and yet, none of it was because of him.

"Wow! When did Naruto learn how to do that Kakashi-sensei!?" Sakura questioned as she could not believe what she was seeing in front of her! Naruto had improved so much in such a short space of time.

Diverting to what came Naturally, Kakashi eye smiled at his female student. "Since I had to train Sasuke for his fight against Gaara, I gave Naruto to another sensei who would be able to focus on Naruto and bring the best out of him."

Sakura couldn't help but wonder who this new sensei was and asked as much to the silver haired man. "That's a surprise which Naruto should be the one to tell us" to which Sakura took at face value, although the other senseis saw right through it.

"Damn Naruto got good! Hey Kurenai-sensei, can you please teach me elemental ninjutsu!" Kiba yelled out as he turned around to his sensei. The Inuzuka noticed that it seemed all of the successful people here at the exams, were starting to branch into elemental ninjutsu and he didn't want to be left behind. He was the top dog after all.

Sakura, having seen where Naruto and Sasuke were headed and how much of a gap there was between the those two and then herself, even Ino who had improved a lot, really felt inadequate and quite honestly, pretty shit about herself.

**x-X-x **

Jiraiya grinned when he saw his godson fight. The boy was shaping up into a real gem of shinobi. He had the ability to be crafty, fight at all ranges and had the chakra supply to match all of that. _After these exams, I will introduce myself to him properly. _Jiraiya thought to himself.

"The kid has got quite a list of skills." Shikaku mentioned to the group of veteran ninjas.

Chouza nodded. "Agreed. That boy is going to go far if he keeps it up. "Maybe one day he will be able to replicate the Nidaime and pull water out of thin air, thanks to his chakra reserves."

It was high praise from the head of the Akimichi clan. Inoichi agreed. "He definitely will have potential to get there, given his circumstances I feel. Naruto is going to get a fair bit more internal attention and some international attention due to this."

"Not if I have anything to say about it. With Naruto pretty much having got chunin wrapped up based on the skills shown so far, I'm going to take him as an apprentice." This was news to the ears of all other 3 jonin. A clear statement was being made.

There was no doubt that Jiraiya would be able to turn Naruto into a monster of a shinobi. He had done it before. Inoichi for his part was saddened. After seeing what had happened to his precious daughter, it made him wish that the Sannin may take on his daughter as an apprentice.

He would be a fool to not try and make that happen. Whilst he enjoyed Asuma, as a bias father, he thought that the man could push his girl a bit more. The month long training with Jiraiya proved exactly that. She had grown leaps and bounds and it was his job to do as much as he could, to ensure that it continued. _Guess that might not happen. At least she has the building blocks for a new style._

**x-X-x **

Sasuke was staring intently at the ring where Naruto once was, judging whether or not he was better than his teammate and rival.

_He's improved. A lot. _Sasuke thought to himself. The thought of fighting in the final was a real possibility and in really excited the Uchiha clan heir. It would give him the chance to finally test himself against Naruto and assert that he was the best in front of thousands of people. There would be no coming back from that. Naruto would forever live in his shadow.

"Well I'll be. Didn't know that Naruto would get so good." Ino commented, having also watched the fight. She was beyond impressed. The name Naruto was in her mind, having just started the book that Jiraiya wrote. It was the name of the main character and the Naruto in real life, was surprising everyone in the ring.

Sasuke merely looked on at the girl, noticing her dress style and also the fact that she was still here and not dead, as morbid of a thought that was. Given the fact that she had gone up against Gaara, he expected for her to have more bruises and cuts. _She must have forfeited before the match even started, no doubt wanting the attention of being in the finals… _Had the raven haired boy arrived earlier, he would have seen her fight and then see how someone who had a similar style, fought against Gaara to give him ideas.

Sasuke was also surprised at the fact she had yet to comment about having the two of them start a relationship. He was not complaining though.

"Yeah, I didn't think Naruto would be this good." Shikamaru replied, happy to see Naruto improve.

"Who would believe you if you said a month ago, that Naruto would in the chunin exam grand finals? Definitely not me." The blonde haired girl mentioned.

It was at this point that Naruto walked up the stairs, greeted with a death stare with Gaara. Finally, with the wool taken off and most of his abilities having been on show, Naruto confidently shrugged off Gaara's death stare. Gaara was not used to this.

Desire was alive to murder anything and everything, which he had yet to do.

**x-X-x **

Sasuke and Gaara found themselves in the arena, Gaara stood on top of the water along with Sasuke. Admittedly, Sasuke didn't think that he would be fighting again, that quickly but he was up for it. The crowd was ready for it to, given that they had just seen a second forfeit before the match even started.

Shino was unfortunate that due to Kankuro forfeiting, it meant that he had to go up against Gaara. The Aburame clan heir decided that it wasn't worth it and that making it this far in his first chunin exams was still a good attempt. It was not as if he was in a rush to get promoted.

It meant that Sasuke was now in the ring against Gaara. It was the fight that the crowd cheered for the loudest. Sasuke and Gaara were the two that coming in to the finals, had the lowest odds on winning.

"Let the match begin." Genma called out to which Sasuke threw shuriken at Gaara, to which the sand shield rose up and collected the metal. Sasuke, not having known of how Ino fought, did much the same thing that she did; showing just how fast that they had gotten over the month.

There was a difference this time though.

Previously, Gaara was able to have his sand unimpeded. This time though, Gaara's sand wasn't as fast as it normally was. _Thank you Naruto. _Sasuke thought to himself as he made the most of the situation, having studied Gaara from Kakashi.

Gaara's sand wasn't as fast as it normally was, due to water logging.

Sasuke got in behind the guard of Gaara and launched a vicious punch to the face of the red haired boy. Getting to where Gaara was going to land before he himself did, Sasuke kicked Gaara up in the air and then jumped up after him.

_Did they co-ordinate and find a weakness for Gaara!? Was it speed!? _Baki thought to himself as he watched his student look far more human than he had ever done before. With one, it could be viewed as an anomaly. Two could be a coincidence but three? That was a pattern.

Sasuke slammed his clenched hands into the stomach of Gaara, sending him back down from the air and into the water hard. There was a splash of water as Sasuke one of his Fuma Shuriken at Gaara. "Yes! Prove my existence!" Gaara shouted out as he brought up his hands to have his sand come up and catch the shuriken.

Sasuke landed safely back on the surface of the water. As Sasuke landed on the water, Gaara got up and brought his hands up into a seal and started channeling chakra. His sand came up and surrounded the sand shinobi in a sphere.

Turning on his sharingan, Sasuke watched intently as he ran towards Gaara and attempted to punch and kick his way through the sand, almost getting his leg caught in the process. Seeing that he wasn't able to get through, Sasuke wasn't at all disappointed. In fact, he was excited and smirked.

Jumping back, Sasuke landed on the outer wall of the arena, unclasped his forearm guard and let if fall down. He had a new jutsu to show off. As the Uchiha did this, a third eye appeared out of sand, freaking out those from Sunagakure that were aware of the significance.

Sasuke went through the hand seals and held his hand close to the wall and let the chakra become visible in the palm of his hand.

Sasuke then smirked before he was off. Racing down the wall at his top speed, Sasuke darted and them jumped onto the water, having to make sure that he held his jutsu higher than he would have liked. He didn't want to run the risk of electrocuting himself. Bypassing tendrils of sand meant to impale him, the Konoha genin thrusted his palm into the sphere.

There was a second of silence after the chidori impaled through the sand and connected with the target. Then there was a loud scream.

"Blood! It's my BLOOD!" Gaara screamed at the top of his lungs. Upon instinct, Gaara acted. Sasuke tried to rip his arm out of the sphere but it was stuck on something. Flaring his chakra again, Sasuke created lightning chakra and yanked his arm out, generating another scream.

What exited the hole with Sasuke was something that the Uchiha had ever seen before. A lot of people in the ring had never seen it before.

That was until the sand cracked, shattered and fell to the water, disintegrating into nothing. The crazed look from before had gotten even larger!

Holding his shoulder, it was clear for all to see that Gaara had been impaled by the chidori from Sasuke. It looked the fight was beginning to end for Gaara.

That was until petals started impeding the vision of everyone in attendance.

Naruto started falling sleepy and fell to the ground, much like Shikamaru. Ino was the most alert and quickly brought her hands up as she started feeling drowsy and quickly called mumbled to herself "Kai."

The genjutsu was broken and she was able to witness an explosion with smoke following shortly after in the Hokage's box. Scared and shocked, Ino quickly ran over to Naruto and Shikamaru and woke them up.

Naruto was the first to stir. "What happened..?" Naruto mumbled, slowly gathering his bearings.

Panicking, Ino talked loudly. "I don't know fully but we got placed under a genjutsu and then there's been an attack on the Hokage!" Ino's terrified voice got Naruto's attention.

"Right. We need to get to our senseis! They will be able to advice us on what we need to do." Naruto instantly said, coming to a decision. Shikamaru who heard that as he got up agreed.

The trio of ninjas met up with Shino and made their way to the stands where Kakashi had just leapt over Sakura to incapacitate a sound shinobi.

Kakashi was the first to greet them. "Good work coming here. We are in the middle of an invasion. It appears that both Sand and Sound are attacking us. Naruto, please go after Sasuke and provide assistance." Kakashi said and made a judgement call on the fly, using the information presented to him.

_Sakura simply isn't cut out f__or being on a mission where a jinchuuriki is involved. She would either get seriously injured or worse. I can't take any chances._

"Asuma, mind if I borrow two of your students?" Kakashi questioned to which Asuma looked at Kakashi as he killed a Sound chunin.

"Go for it. Kids, Listen to Kakashi's instructions."

The silver haired man nodded to his compatriot. "Naruto, I want you to take both Ino and Shikamaru with you to follow Sasuke and Gaara. You will be guided by my summon Pakkun." As the elite jonin said this, he wiped his thumb on the blood of a downed ninja in front of him and used it to summon his companion.

"Gotcha sensei."

Realising that this mission involved her longtime crush, Sakura stuck her hand up in the air to get the attention of her sensei. "Kakashi-sensei, can I go with them to?" Kakashi then looked back at the girl and thought for a millisecond. He simply didn't have time to mince words.

"Sakura, they are potentially fighting a tailed beast. You are not competent enough to be in that environment without getting seriously hurt or even worse. You would be a liability to Sasuke and and the others. I've got another job that I need you to do."

Ino winced as she saw her former friend get spoken to by their sensei. _That's got to sting. _Naruto winced too but he voice otherwise.

"Right, let's go. We don't have anytime to lose!" Naruto called out and the three genin quickly followed after Sasuke along with Pakkun.

Shock filled Sakura as she sat there wide eyed, with tears threatening to come from the corner of her eyes. She had never been spoken to by her sensei like that before. It hurt.

It damn fucking hurt her pride.

"Sakura, I am sorry if you wanted to go to on the mission. We can work on your training if you want after this is over. For now, I need you to check on all of the civilians and see if and what injuries they have."

Due to going through shock, Sakura numbly nodded as her heart beat a million miles a second. _Even Kakashi-sensei thinks I am not good enough to be with Sasuke-kun and he now sent Pig to go help Sasuke! I really am worthless._

The adrenaline of the fight going on in combination with a body falling on her, was enough to wake Sakura out of her funk and get on with her mission.

This was a harsh reality check that she did not like one bit.

**x-X-x **

As the trio of genin jumped along the forest trees in an attempt to catch up to Sasuke, Pakkun's nose caught wind of a scent. It was a group of eight sound shinobis. "This way!" Pakkun called out, turning top the right. "There are two squads of ninja, meaning 8 shinobi. Actually there are nine following us!"

_Shit! _Shikamaru muttered as he realised the implications. "If they catch up to us, we are dead! We need a decoy and other shinobi to pick them off whilst the decoy runs around, keeping the attention of the enemy ninja. Any volunteers?" Shikamaru dryly responded with a drawl in his tone.

"I'll do it with you Shikamaru. You be the decoy and I will use my sword and speed to pick them off from the shadows." Ino resolutely stated.

Shikamaru's eyes widened at th implications. There was potential possibility that Ino would be killing 8 people today. _She really has changed! _Without the time to ponder on what that meant for the future, Shikamaru nodded. "Right. Let's go."

Naruto watched on in shock at the two. Out of all the people in the academy that he least expected to step up to the plate when the time was necessary, it was those two. Shaking his thoughts, Naruto focused on what he was told to do by his sensei, wondering how it was going further up ahead.

**x-X-x **

Collapsing down on the tree branch, Sasuke wondered if this was how it would end. _The curse mark! Dammit! I can't move my body! _The Raven haired boy thought to himself as he found himself in quite the predicament.

_Whatever Gaara is, he is on another level! _Gaara had taken two chidori's and yet, he was still in the fight and winning for that matter. Sasuke's Chakra was running on empty and out of the corner of his eye, he saw the Sand shinobi coming right at him, with the sand arm's claws ready to annihilate his face.

A blue and green blur appeared out of nowhere and missile drop-kicked right into the torso of Gaara, making him crash into another nearby tree.

Sasuke was incapacitated to the point where he was unable to formulate the word he wanted to say. What was meant to be "Naruto" turned into "mmhmgh". Pakkun went to quickly check up on the Uchiha whilst Naruto stood in front of his comrade, creating a barrier between Gaara and his prey.

The blonde could feel the raw chakra coming off of Gaara in waves. _This… This is just like the Kyubi's chakra! Gaara must be another Jinchuuriki. _Suddenly, a wave of empathy washed over Naruto as he realised what Gaara must have gone through as a child to act the way that he did. _It all makes sense! _Naruto pondered the revelation.

It was only thanks to the minor amounts of training that Naruto had done with the Kyubi's chakra over the past month, that he was able to recognise the feel of the chakra.

"Nooo. My existence will not be denied another time!" Gaara screamed with a one track mind before launching himself off of the branch and heading around Naruto, aiming directly for Sasuke as Pakkun could only watch on. He was not a fighter after all.

"It can, but it won't be validated by killing Sasuke! I won't let you dattebayo!" Naruto called as he once again managed to kick Gaara, smashing him into the ground below this time. This forced Gaara to have to reconsider his options.

It was now clear to Gaara that Naruto was strong enough to be able to prevent him from reaching his grey. How Naruto had gotten so much stronger over the past month, the red haired boy would never know.

_I'll just kill him instead. Then I will kill the Uchiha._

"You will not touch my friend again!" Naruto shouted, pausing for a moment. "Sasuke may be an asshole but we share the same pain. If you try and kill him again, I will slaughter you!" Naruto called out and with the adrenaline of the fight running through his body, there was a surge in his chakra levels. The Uzumaki created a shadow clone to pick up Sasuke and take his body back to safety.

_Now with Sasuke out of reach, I can go all out!_

Just as Naruto started to get the smallest bit of confidence, fighting a jinchuuriki, he noticed that Gaara's body, from the shins up, was now completely covered in sand. Gaara's face was long gone at this point which had been replaced with the head of the tailed beast Shukaku!

"Sand Shuriken!" Gaara called out as he swiped his arms away from his body and in the process launched just under a hundred shuriken made out of sand at Naruto. Thinking quickly, Naruto quickly placed his hand on his arm and channeled chakra, allowing the sword to come out once more. With little time to spare, Naruto turned the blade side on, to give as much of a surface area as possible to block the incoming attack.

It knocked Naruto back ten feet and his back skidded off of the three he was standing on. The force of the attack was enough to make Naruto lose his focus that when he hit another tree, Naruto then fell down to the ground, now on Gaara's level.

Yellow eyes that screamed insanity bear down on Naruto, promising murder. Feeling a stinging sensation, Naruto looked down at his left arm, noticing that he had been hit by either one of those shuriken or by a branch on his fall down. Blood was starting to trickle out of his outer bicep down his arm.

_Come on Kyubi! It's time to show that Gaara isn't the only demon out there. There are others that have gone through the same life! _Naruto willed internally, calling on the chakra that was not his own. His whisker marks darkened in colour, the nails on his fingers started morphing more towards claws. In addition to this, Naruto's eyes had changed colour, now showing a "Suiton: Kanketsusen no jutsu! Water Style: Geyser Jutsu!"

Naruto shouted out as he placed his hands on the ground and started channeling the influx of chakra in which the Kyubi provided. It was only thanks to the raw amount of chakra that Naruto was using, that he was able to pull water from the ground to complete his jutsu.

Gaara stared on, not knowing what a geyser was and thoroughly invested in allowing the fight to prove his existence, did not move at all. It was to his detriment as a spout of water shot up with force, pushing the red haired boy up into the air.

Not done there, Naruto went through hand seals once more and shouted out! "Suiton: Wani no Ago! (Water Release: Mouth of the Crocodile!)" Naruto roared as he used the water from his previous to limit the amount of chakra needed for the jutsu.

The wave grew in size, significantly larger than the one in which he used on Temari during the finals. It also moved faster, owing to the increase in chakra dropped into the attack.

Realizing just how much that Jutsu hurt and seeing this one as much larger, Temari panicked! She brought up her fan and swung it, aimed directly at the water jutsu. Naruto watched his calculating eyes as a large gust of wind came from the right hand side, colliding with his technique, destabilizing the jutsu and causing nothing to happen to Gaara, who landed one of the nearby trees.

Naruto stared at where the attack came from and saw Temari there. The crimson eyes narrowed, understanding that this fight was going to become that much harder.

Unaware that Temari had just assisted him, Gaara turned to see a stagnant Naruto. "What's the matter, scared of me!?" Gaara questioned, assuming the answer, having seen how the boy had interacted the whole time during the first, second and preliminary exams. "Whether or not you fight for yourself, for others… You should only love yourself, should only fight for yourself! That's the definition of the strongest!

Now show me more of that power! I'll grind you into nothing but sand!" Gaara shouted out. In his hazed induced mind, he could innately feel the different Nature of Naruto's chakra signature now. It was spurring him on more and more. Adrenaline was kicking in hard for Gaara.

"Bullshit! Fighting for yourself is a lonely path that even if you do win, you will hate yourself whilst doing it!" Dashing forward, Naruto raced and picked up his sword once again and then leapt towards Gaara.

Thanks to the influx of Kyubi chakra, Naruto had increased his speed to the point where he was now on the same level as Ino and Sasuke. He had also increased his strength where he was now able to hold his larger than average blade with one hand, something that Naruto was not able to previously do at combat level.

Swinging his blade, Naruto sliced into the sand, chopping off a chunk of Gaara's tail from the tip. He had managed to avoid the swipe of the outstretched arm of Gaara, allowing Naruto to swing his from in a vertical downward motion.

Two clawed hands covered in large amounts of sand rose up, quick to defend. The blade slammed into the sand and dug in 5 centimetres, mere millimetres away. Gaara lashed out with his hands, freeing space for his mouth to be in line with Naruto with nothing in the way.

"Fūton: Mugen Sajin Daitoppa (Wind Release: Infinite Sand Cloud Great Breakthrough!" Gaara shouted as mouths appeared over the Gaara's incomplete jinchuuriki form. Naruto simply didn't have enough time to block the attack. The best thing that he could do was turn the blade in his hands side on to block the attack as best as he could.

Naruto was sent flying back. The attack was at point blank range. Cuts quickly littered all over his body. Gashes appeared over his right leg which was hit the worst. In addition to this, Naruto got sand inside the cut that had already happened on his upper arm.

"Ahhh!" Naruto screamed out, the pain being significant. He flew backwards and landed with a thud into the tree.

_I don't have any massive jutsus that will be able to compete against something like that! _Naruto groggily thought to himself as he stood up, barely sensing the impending doom. That was until something grabbed onto his foot and yanked him away from the incoming threat of the jinchuuriki.

Looking down at his foot, Naruto could see platinum blonde hair that somehow seemed to be as strong as steel wrapped around his foot. He had no idea that hair could do that! Following the trail of hair, Naruto looked to see where it had come from.

There was the Ino, with her hands in a hand seal, her connecting the two. _Ino! _Naruto thought in relief as he saw an ally! As Naruto was placed onto the tree branch that Ino was standing on, he spoke up. "Ino! Boy am I glad to see you. Gaara is no joke! What happened to Shikamaru? " Naruto rattled off questions, his mind going quickly, trying to piece together information despite the adrenaline and intensity of the situation that they were in.

Not even bothering to look at Naruto, Ino's sole attention was on Gaara. She was horrified at what was in front of her. The teenage girl had no idea how to comprehend what she was looking at. She didn't have the same life experience as Naruto to understand. "Shika has chakra exhaustion. Asuma-sensei sent me after you, to make sure you and Sasuke come back alive. By the way, where is Sasuke?" She questioned, noticing that Sasuke was not with Naruto.

"My clone took Sasuke who passed out back to the village. He managed to force Gaara into this and I took over."

"You!" Gaara shouted, not caring for a second that he was interrupting the discussion of Naruto and Ino. "You will not deny my existence anymore!" Gaara screamed, golden eyes staring at the two of them. Killer intent radiated off of the boy.

Naruto was able to handle the killer intent, having been exposed to it numerous times previously. Ino was not as fortunate and stood still as Gaara shot forward towards the duo. Luckily for her, Naruto returned the favour, using his free hand to grab the girl and dodge.

"Thanks Naruto." She said as she gathered her bearings, only starting to realise the situation she was in. _This is over my level. This is probably over Naruto's level but we can't give up! _As Ino thought this, she looked over at Naruto and saw his crimson eyes that had slits in them. A food for thought. "Just what is he? Is he a monster?"

"Noo!" Naruto vehemently shouted in response, the force shocked Ino who was still in the arm of Naruto as he jumped back to avoid the attacks of Gaara. "Gaara is not a monster! He is a human being!" The Uzumaki genin firmly stated as he placed Ino on the ground of the forest.

_There's obviously more information but now is not the time to ask._

Before they could think more, there was a swing of a fan that happened with the attack hitting the two blondes, sending them back a metre and into the ground. In the fall, Naruto quickly reached over to Ino, grabbed her and shielded her from the attack, choosing to forgo his sword to save his comrade. It was clear that no matter the situation, Naruto always cared about his comrades first and was willing to put his body on the line.

Ino's hair shot up into the air, with the whiplash hitting her hard, barely aware that Naruto was able to save her. She was the first to get up, thanks to the human cushion she was sitting on. "Come on Naruto!" She called out with urgency.

"No one is hurting my brother! Not if I have anything to say about it!" Temari screamed, having come out of hiding. She was panting and on one knee, all of the efforts of today catching up with her.

"How can she defend a psycho like that!?" Ino replied back in the heat of the moment.

_Gaara is getting closer to the village! I have to get stop him now!_ With blood freely falling from his arm to the point where he had a slight lean, compensating for that side, Naruto went through hand seals.

"Because She cares about her brother! You hear that Gaara! There is someone who cares about you! Now you see why I won't let you hurt the people I care about!" Naruto roared as chakra rose to the point where Ino could see it coming off Naruto as channeled it.

Her senses were on fire and she had no idea what was going on! _Just how does Naruto have this much chakra!? He used hundreds of clones earlier and has used a few more jutsus!_

"Suiton: Wani no Ago! (Water Release: Mouth of the Crocodile!)" Naruto roared as he planted his hands on the ground. There was a rumbling for a second and Ino wondered what it was that Naruto was doing. That was until water seeped out of the ground and quickly formed into a large wave, with the head of it being a mouth of some kind of animal. The influx of chakra from the Kyubi allowed Naruto to brute force this jutsu to the point where he could use a water source that was significantly further away than what he was used to. It also allowed Naruto to put a lot more oomph behind it.

The attack hit Gaara as the boy had no idea what to do with water, having never encountered large amounts of it before. The mouth of the wave collided with Gaara as Temari could only look on in fear. "Gaara! No!" she shouted out, having never seen people be able to push her brother this far before.

The wave hit Gaara and sent him backpedaling before dunking him underwater, smashing him into the dirt before bouncing up, only for the same thing to happen again.

Ino who was watching this unfold, could only watch in amazement at the move that Naruto had just used. Whilst she knew she didn't have the largest chakra reserves out there, the scale in which Naruto and Gaara were fighting was simply put, a level above.

That was made evidently clear when Gaara was visible from the water, getting up slowly. By the scowl that was framing the face of Gaara, he was none too pleased. Raging, Gaara shouted at the top of his lungs as chakra appeared around Gaara.

Even compared to the recent developments shown by both Gaara as well as Naruto, the hairs on Ino's body were sticking up and she was on high alert. Whatever it was, that Gaara was doing next was going to big!

"**My Existence will not be denied!**" Gaara screamed as the chakra enveloped him as mass amounts of Sand consumed him and built the body of Shukaku to even greater proportions. It quickly rose to the size of a house but it didn't stop growing. By the time it was done, Naruto and Ino were ants in relation.

"Holy shit Naruto! We need to run back and get help! We can't fight Gaara!" she said as she turned to see the look on the face of Naruto which frustrated her. She knew just how stubborn Naruto could be.

"No." Naruto responded resolutely. "I need to prove to Gaara that he is wrong" _and to myself _Naruto silently thought. Ino would have no idea what all this meant to Naruto but he didn't care. Naruto channeled insane amounts of chakra. The Yamanaka girl could even swear she saw red wisps of chakra surrounding Naruto as he allowed the blood falling over his arm to assist with his jutsu.

"SUMMONING JUTSU!" Naruto shouted out as he poured out chakra from his hands, watching with pride and still amazement that he had managed to summon the boss.

Ino had no idea what was going on and then she heard the rumbling. Bracing herself, she quickly brought her chakra to her feet to balance what was going to happen next. Wide eyes watched on in disbelief as suddenly her line of sight dramatically rose up in the air, forcing her to look down to see how that was possible.

She quickly discovered that she was standing atop of scaly skin, and could only look with an open mouth as her brain tried to work out what the hell she was standing on.

"**Child. I did not expect to be summoned. This better be good. I was just about to fall asleep for a nap. I will eat you if this is not up to par.**" Sobek stated in a booming voice to which Ino felt the tremors and vibration rattle her ears. The power coming from this giant was insane!

"That good enough for you Sobek-sama? You said you wanted to bring pride back to the name of the crocodile clan! What better way to say that you are on top of the food chain then fighting a tailed beast!?" Naruto shot back, the adrenaline giving him confidence to talk back to his boss summon.

It was then that Sobek opened his eyes and the slitted eyes morphed into what Ino would call a dangerous smirk, a predator seeing the prey for the first time.

"**That will do nicely Naruto. Even better than Manda.**" Now it was Naruto's turn to gape. It was the first time he had heard his name from was then that Sobek noticed the other human on top of his head. He had no idea who Manda was.

"**Child. Tell the hatchling to get off. This is a fight that the Crocodile Clan will take.**" Naruto sweat dropped as he realised he had been demoted back to child and probably for a long time. _At least he managed to stop calling me Hatchling and I got promoted to Child… _Naruto thought to himself.

"I know when I am out of my depth and this is a fight for you two." Ino replied, freaking out that the beast Naruto was talking to addressed her. She figured that she would only be a hindrance. "Naruto, I want you to promise me that you will win! We can't let that attack the village." Ino commented. She had no idea what was going on in the village right now but she knew that it would only get worse if Gaara was able to attack the civilians.

"You got it Dattebayo! It's a promise!" Naruto said whilst giving a thumbs up. When Ino saw how confident Naruto was, she felt more confident in herself. Ino jumped off of the summon and it was only then that she saw just how big the creature that Naruto had summoned was. It was massive! It was the size of Shukaku in both height and width but it was length that Sobek dwarfed Shukaku.

_He's quadruple the length! _She looked on in awe!

"**Give me some chakra!**_" _Sobek called out to which Naruto did just that. He placed his hand on the neck of Sobek and channeled chakra.

_Surely he has chakra himself… _Naruto thought but didn't dare voice his opinion.

Sobek didn't need to call out the name of the jutsu as he pulled the water that Naruto had already created which morphed the pool that Naruto had made into a lake. It was only up to the ankles of both Sobek and Shukaku.

"**Much Better.**"

Naruto gaped at the amount of water Sobek made; it further cemented to Naruto where his place was in the clan. It was definitely not at the top!

"**I'm, free!**" Shukaku shouted out. A feeling of dread filled Naruto. If you had told him six months ago when he found out about the Kyubi, that he would be fighting up against one of the very things that was sealed inside him, he would have said that you were crazy. And yet, here Naruto was, standing up against a fully formed tailed beast!

During the time Sobek, Naruto and Ino were discussing the situation, Gaara lost control and fell asleep, sinking into the sand. "**Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu (Water Release: Water Bullet Jutsu!)**" Both Naruto and Sobek called out as Sobek shot the jutsu out of his mouth, whilst Naruto placed his hands on the back of Sobek after having gone through the hand signs.

Naruto provided the chakra whilst Sobek provided the control. The bullet of water shot out of the mouth of the carnivore, aimed directly at Shukaku.

"We need to save Gaara." Naruto implored Sobek. He didn't expect much, given the heirachy but he knew that he needed to do as much as he could to save a fellow jinchuuriki from the life that he was living.

"**Why?**" Sobek questioned although he knew the answer. He wanted to see how much Naruto desired this.

"Because Gaara is just like me! He never asked for this burden to be placed on him just like I didn't ask for it either. Gaara deserves to be happy and I don't want to question whether or not I put in enough effort to help someone who clearly needs it dattebayo!" Naruto voiced firmly.

Ino who was not that far yet away from the fight, was able to hear what Naruto said and it made her question what the hell Naruto was on about. _What does he mean burden!?_ Naruto was throwing all sorts of curve balls into her previously formed opinions about the boy. It didn't help that her burning curiosity about the book Jiraiya-sensei gave her which had the main character share the same name. It seemed like too big of a coincidence as she had never heard the name Naruto before outside of her comrade.

Knowing how much it meant to the newest member of the clan and how much of a long term investment Naruto was to bring the clan back up to the top of the food chain, Sobek acquiesced Naruto and allowed his request. He was really looking forward to flexing his claws…

"**Very well then child. That makes this harder. The jinchuuriki ****needs to be woken up. Shukaku is able to take control of the host when they fall asleep.**" it was matter of fact for Sobek but for Naruto, it was eye opening as he could only imagine how tired Gaara must be. Surely there was something that they could do about that as well!? Everyone deserved the ability to be able to sleep.

"Got it boss! Now let's show how strong we are! Prove that there is nothing that our teeth can't rip apart." Chakra enveloped Naruto as his desire to save not only the village but also Gaara rose to new levels thanks to adrenaline.

Tremors were felt around the village as Sobek too each step. These were none more so felt by Ino who had to use chakra to keep her balance. Even Naruto was surprised but for a different reason. He had never seen Sobek move before and the pace that she was showing was not slow, especially for one his size.

Just as Sobek got close, he got up on his legs and tail, balancing as he slashed down his right front claw, creating a severing wave of water, that cut the tail of Shukaku greatly. _**If I had time to warm up in the sun, that would have cut off his tail!**_

Shukaku started to fight back by fighting back by firing off an air bullet that took out all trees that were in the way. Naruto quickly gave Sobek chakra once more to fire off water bullet that collided with the air bullet with both of them dissipating after colliding.

"**Go.** **I'll be the distraction.**" Naruto didn't have to be told twice as he got off his boss summons' head and requested more chakra from his host. It got to the point where was a very faint shroud of red chakra surrounding him.

The near seismic shift when Sobek charged forward towards Shukaku alleviated Naruto the time to race along the ground towards Gaara. Sobek sprinted even faster, something that not many people would expect of the giant crocodile.

Right when he got to the base of Shukaku, Naruto leapt up, bouncing off of Sobek's exterior, arriving on the head of Shukaku, right in front of Gaara. Sand attempted to wrap around Naruto's feet the second that he landed but Naruto did not let up. He had a mission to complete!

During this time, Naruto was flashed with the memory of Sasuke killing his clone and heading towards where the fight was taking place. The blonde did not pay attention to it as he had bigger fish to fry. With speed, Naruto launched a flying knee into the chest of Gaara before quickly following up with an elbow to the face. "Wake up Gaara!" Naruto shouted, hoping what he had just done was enough for the red head to wake up. Naruto wasn't too sure how much longer he would be able to keep this up.

Solidified sand started to shatter around Gaara as his posture fell forward. Minor cracks turned into crumbling and then large amounts of sand started falling down to the ground. Along did Naruto and Gaara.

This was the sight that Sasuke and Temari came to witness.

The two jincuuriki's hit bushes on the way down and fell on the ground, facing one another. It was only now that Gaara had seen the chakra of Naruto, that he understood how Naruto was able to keep up with him.

"We're two sides of the same coin Gaara!" Naruto pleaded for the boy opposite "Please stop this!"

"No, my existence is all that I have. I have nothing else. I will not be denied!" Gaara hysterically shouted. Naruto could tell that the shouting from Gaara this time around was a lot less confident. _Now is my chance!_

The Kyubi's chakra had gone away and the Uzumaki was running on near empty but it was enough to propel him forward to the point where he managed to land his punch on Gaara whilst the red head did not.

Lying down in the ground, Gaara tried to comprehend what had happened today and came to a loss. "Why… Why do you fight so hard for them?" The sand shinobi questioned as it tore at a part of him.

Naruto didn't have to think about the why. The answer came so quick to his tongue that he just rattled on. "Because being lonely fucking sucks. It hurts so much. The pain that you went through fucking sucks so much and it's not something that anyone else but us can understand. I know what you went through because I went through the same thing.

But… I've got people that care about me now and people that are important to me!" Naruto's first thought went to the Hokage and then onto Iruka and Sasuke. "They are so important to me that I will do whatever it takes to be able to stop you from hurting them."

Intrigued by this, Gaara replied. "Why would you care about others?"

"Love." Naruto simply said before expanding on it. "They saved me and I love them for that."

_I see, that is why he is so strong. _A contemplative look came across the face of Gaara as he stared up at the sky, watching a leaf turn over.

It was at this point where both Sasuke and Ino arrived by the side of Naruto whilst Kankuro and Temari. Naruto fell to one knee, struggling to stand. "Gaara, I can see that there are people that care for you. Trust me, give them a chance and you will feel so much better dattebayo, you're life will have so much more meaning."

Gaara didn't say anything to Naruto but he definitely heard those words.

_Sasuke is barely standing and he is in no condition to fight, plus, what is with that tattoo all over his face? His chakra is pretty much empty. Naruto is done. He is going to have a case of chakra exhaustion I am sure of it. _Ino thought, taking it upon herself to make the decision on what to do next as she was the only one that had a decent amount of chakra.

"We need to get back to the village. We have no idea what else is going on. We don't need to risk this fight going on any further." Ino said as she bent down and picked Naruto up. Sasuke was about to reply back saying that he was good but thought better of it.

Temari and Kankuro were silently thanking the Konoha ninjas. Neither of them were capable of fighting and a retreat of both parties seemed like the best course of action.

Ino could only wonder what would happen now that the exams were over. She hoped that she would be able to catch her breath and recover.


End file.
